Major Studio // Computation // Spring 2008 -----------------// Design and Technology // MFA Parsons The New School for Design. ------------------------// Instructor: Yury Gitman
TourIna Box is a multimedia,
interactive tool used to map a series of destinations that narrate a personal
experience.
Using audio recording, maps
and artifacts the user tells a story that can be passed on and experienced by
another user. Packaged in a box the
personalized experience is easily passed on through mail or in person. What the
user chooses to map and whom they choose to share it with is entirely
subjective. As a blank canvas, TourIna
Box offers an insight to times and places that might never be shared otherwise.
My first user is 28, female and has lived in NYC for 8 years. She used it to create a tour for her Brother, who has never visited her in NY. It tours the places she has lived around NYC since she moved here in 1999. The box includes artifacts, voice recording and maps. Here is her interpretation of "Tourina Box":
This is an idea for an interactive box that is used to collect information that is needed to lead someone on a tour. A map, sound recorder, drawing tool and artifact pocket are included. The box can be easily transported. Once all the information is collected the box can be passed on (via mail or in person) to another user, who can go on the same tour, alter it or make an entirely different tour of their own. They can then pass the box on again. With each passing the box will change and be a completely different interpretation of the tour before it.
The basic idea can be changed slightly and used by real estate agents or recent home owners that want to share the essence of their neighborhoods with others. In this case the box would not move among a network of users.
Here is a wiki that has a sample tour of Brooklyn. The box can exist without the wiki, but I think it will help to identify a network of people that want to participate.
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2. Tourcard:
This is the same idea as the box, but it is specifically built for a bike. Resting on the handlebars it can be easily updated and looked at. Once it is finished it can be mailed the same way the box can.
3. Tourvest:
This vest functions the same way as the box, but it adds another personal factor because it is worn. Once the person is done with it they pass it on to another user who will use it to lead them on the tour the previous user did and/or create a new tour.
(From left to right) Rialto Theater, Brooklyn Paramount theater, Linden Theater and Lowes Kings Theater
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Magical Mystery Tour : I started to document various places in Flatbush, Crown Heights and Bed Stuy. This is a map I plan to continually add to.
Brooklyn Historical Society: Lost in transition is a current exhibit at the BHS that is a commentary created by teenagers living in south Brooklyn. The exhibit displays student work from The Urban Memory Project , an analysis by Brooklyn youth using photography, sound and video to discuss the changes taking place in their neighborhoods.
Bed-Stuy Restoration Corporation: An organization developed by Senator
Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob Javits in 1967. It's aim is to is "to be the catalyst for the progressive
improvement of the quality of life for
the people of Bedford Stuyvesant. They carry out this mission through
economic, cultural, educational and
social ventures that both revitalize the community and serve as pioneering
models for distressed communities
nationwide."
Gothamist: An organization dedicated to examining and exploring the city's rich history, and to make it more
accessible to the community.
Yello Arrow: A project that uses yellow arrow stickers to mark locations in cities all over the world. The yellow arrows provide a link between digital content and real locations.
PROTOTYPES: All of these prototypes explore the idea of exploration and interpretation. I want to explore the city and its recent cultural changes in relation to the changes in the physical landscape. Local venues are constantly being replaced. With a collaborative effort of a handful of people I would like to create an observational "closed and forgotten" tour. Everyone involved has a duty to the team. They interpret each location with the tool they are provided. I-pods, digital cameras, pencils, voice recorders, walkie talkies, mobile phones, etch-a sketch and mad-libs are some examples. Ultimately I hope that this collaboration will document each destination in a way which will communicate its past, current and future place in history.
Look and Feel:
Stop 1: Empire skate rink
“This place is old and run down. The paint is bright greed. People keep walking by without giving it a glance. I imagine this place was packed on Friday and Saturday night. The music must of spilled onto the streets.”
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Role:
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Integrated:
1. This is one idea that explores the idea of community. The circles identify local venues in Brooklyn that have closed down over the past couple of years. Scroll over them and they change color, click on them and text appears describing the location.
These examples demonstrate the idea of collaboration and/or activity that adds quality to life. Each example focuses on individual activity contributing to a larger whole. The most appealing thing for me is the "escape" each one creates for user.
"The pod-like capsules are soundproof, lined with leather and foam, and
equipped with karaoke machine which visitors can enter, one at a time,
to sing along to their favourite pop songs without fear of intrusion."
"When
a collective of people pour their heart, soul, energy, enthusiasm, vision and
passion into a space you can be sure that the experience will be both magical
and alchemical. It comes from the heart, and is infused with love!"
"Lucent Dossier is, at its very core, a playground for the innovative
genius child in all of us. It is a collective based on magic and
inspiration, living by the ancient wisdom of choosing confidence over
doubt, joy over pain and love over fear."
Picnic : Video "This dizzying festival of ideas will also include top class
entertainment, public lectures and master classes, art performances,
demo sessions and pitch events, games, challenges and awards, press
conferences and product launches, and a spectacular closing party."
Waag Society grew into an institution that was active in the fields of
networked art, healthcare, education and internet related issues like
bandwidth and copyright.
We Feel Fine data visualization about connections between people that use that are posting comments on the internet. Other relationships for data visualization iclude weather, population, age, gender and location.
1. How will we archive the internet? Will we ever have libraries like we do for books?
2. Will kids ever be able to get their high school degree online?
3. Will humans evolve to better accommodate technology? For example, will our eyes change because of all the back-lit monitors and screens we stare at all day?
4. Is there anything on the internet capable of creating a sense of wonder as magical as something in nature does, like a sunset or shooting stars?
5. Will robots ever be able to participate in the Olympics?
6. Has the internet started to break down race and age barriers that have existed forever?
7. Will the traditional definition of an artist evolve to include roles like scientist, inventor and innovator?
8. Can there be a rating system for the web, like ZAGAT is for restaurants? or does that already exist?
9. Has the internet increased or decreased our attention span?
Motivations:
Tradition, collaboration, innovation, experimentation, individuality, environment, education, movement, categorization, barriers, art, culture, public vs. private, happiness, FDA, sports, fashion
Domains:
Games, web, public space, school, mobile phones, video, mp3, books, clothes
"Tetris Moves Me" is an interactive
projection built in Processing. Tetris pieces shift and dance in reaction to movement. Originally designed to be installed in Barcade, a bar located in Brooklyn NY, vintage arcade games were used as inspiration. Intended to be a playful installation for all ages, Tetris Moves Me can be installed in any public space designated for recreational socializing.
A camera attached to the computer reads the speed of the motion that passes in front of it. That reading is then interpreted as fast, medium or slow movement. The projected tetris pieces move in one of three different ways as a result. If the tetris projection is still the camera is reading no movement, a small jitter in the pieces means the camera sees slight movement and if the pieces react explosively the camera is reading a lot of movement.
On March 28th, 2008 we debuted the project at a house party in Fort Green, Brooklyn. People at the party enjoyed the projection for hours, but got tired of the camera interaction quickly. In some cases people were not aware that their own movement was triggering the movement of the projection. That passive interaction was intended, but in conclusion we questioned different ways of making the interaction more obvious. Overall, we were happy with the result and are inspired to create further variations of this project.
I attempted to incorporate the idea of playing tetris into our drawing tool. Below are three variations of tests I did. All of which are works in progress.
1. Tracks the brightest pixel and draws a Tetris shape
2. Tracks the brightest pixel and draws several Tetris shapes. I tried changind the variables so different shapes would be drawn depending on the value of the pixel.
I would like to get this to a point where the pieces appear slower and the user can move them around the screen and place them where they choose. I want the user to be able to build a puzzle using them. As of now several are drawn to the screen at once and are placed according to where the brightest pixel is. I would also like to have several users be involved at the same time.
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