Final Project: Sensor

For the sensor, I decide to put it in the cushion of the seat. The cushion consists of a wooden board on the bottom with a foam pad on top of it. There are a few holes already in the board that I can run the sensor wires from the cushion to the bottom of the chair.

I started out making my force sensor for the chair. I started by taking the two wire-mesh pads from the video theatre mid-term project, and cutting them down to approximately a 2" x 3" rectangle. I was able to attain conductive foam from the NYU computer store, and then cut that down to a size just bigger than the wire-mesh pads. I placed the foam between the wire-mesh and placed them between the seat's board and foam pad. Unfortunately this sensor was unable to get a large range of readings. I did not want to make the sensor larger to fit the full size of the cushion because the added material would increase stuffing size to be bigger than the cover. So I changed out my sensor for a large force sensor from the computer store.

The force sensor was thin so I did not have to worry about too much stuffing in the cushion and the cover being able to contain all of it. This new sensor caused little changes in the cushion allowing it to retain it's shape.

Final Project: Chair

I was able to find a 1950s pool-side chair from Brooklyn junk. I needed the chair to recall the 1950s so the correlating date of production, 1959, of the movie Come Back, Africa and the travel catalogue Colourful South Africa will become more evident.

I also wanted a chair that had a stable seat and arms so that movement within the seat would be an inclination. I did consider a beach chair for this project, but after testing one out it did not induce movement. The swaying of the cloth seating induced the user to stay still. I concluded that a stable seat would allow more movement to occur than a swaying seat. Weight distribution is allowed a greater range on the stable seat because the user can have more movement upon a stable object instead of a moving object.

The cushion of the chair is easily taken off. It is attached to the bottom bars with three screws. This allows me to insert the sensor and do tests without needing the whole chair. Also having the bottom of the chair being a few bars to support the cushion leaves me with a lot of room to attach the Arduino and Breadboard.

Final Project Update

For my Final Project I plan to continue with the interactive video with lots of improvements. I have decided to use a projector for my videos so it is easier to see what's happening instead of the screen of my Mac. For the sensor/chair interface I have gotten rid of the towel cover-up and seat pad-switch that can go on any chair. I've traded it in for a 1950's pool-side chair that will have a force sensor in the seat, so the interface will be the chair. The 1950's pool-chair is a significant improvement to the concept of the work. After talking with Grant, I realized that it's not clear that the movies are from 1959 so I have decided to make this evident in the next phase. I'm calling the work 1959 and will only use the travel catalogue images for the slideshow, taking out my contemporary photographs. I will also change the "Come Back, Africa" montage movie to include more images with subtitles from the movie to break up the work and give more information to the viewer.

Final Project: 1959

Project Title: 1959

One Liner: 1959 is a video installation that allows the user to blend imagery of two movies to create a hybrid space that allows alternative memories to break the framing of dominant history.

Description: 1959 creates a space for contesting memories to interact with each other and show a more inclusive (alternative) representation of the past. The imagery is a hybridization of black spatial imagery, that includes townships and job sites, to the dominant Apartheid imagery, that depicts white space of the city and white pastoral landscapes such as Kruger National Park, during 1959. During Apartheid the white space was segregated from the black space in most aspects of daily life except for industrial work zones. The Apartheid City plan and implementation constructed separate housing zones and travel routes so the two races would not come in contact with each other. Layering the imagery of these two segregated spaces allows a new space to be created, one that breaks the segregation. The alternative memory of black space breaks into the framing of the dominant imagery of Apartheid that was disseminated globally.

The imagery for 1959 comes from a travel catalogue, Colourful South Africa, and a movie Come Back, Africa. I have changed the formate of the travel catalogue from a book into a slideshow so the images can interact with the imagery of the movie. These images are projected onto a screen in front of a 1950s pool-side chair, which is reminiscent of the beach resort images from the travel catalogue. As the user sits in the chair, their movements and force upon the seat change the transparency of the travel catalogue slide show that is in front of the movie, Come Back, Africa. The transparency of the front movie allows the user to see the movie, which creates hybrid images of the two spaces.

Personal Statement: After a study abroad in 2007 to South Africa during my undergraduate studies, I have become interested in the socio-political spatial constructions in South Africa that was furthered in my graduate studies at NYU. 1959 is the praxis to my M.A. thesis at NYU, titled "Trauma of the Landscape: The Perpetuation of Violent Sites as Memory Theatres in South African Identity."

Background:

The South African Tourist Corporation in 1959 produced a selection of 53 color pictures with a short introductory text travel catalogue entitled Colourful South Africa. This travel catalogue of coloured pictures “covering a holiday of travel, adventure and discovery” is intended to entice foreign travelers to visit South Africa on their next holiday. The catalogue depicts an array of possible holiday activities for the visitor. Images of whites only beach resorts, Kruger National Park animal photography, landscape photographs with an Afrikaaner gazing down upon nature, photographs of natives in exotic tribal garb and photographs of cars traversing the landscape. Each picture in the catalogue corresponds to a map at the end of the book, which identifies the exact location of the scene. This travel catalogue is a spatial representation of South Africa. As with all representations, there is a framing in the construction. White dominance of the landscape is displayed in the travel catalogue. The native is framed out of the catalogue unless they exhibit the stereo-type of an exotic submissive pre-modern man that evokes an earlier time.

The image of black modernity is depicted in the movie Come Back, Africa. Come Back, Africa was created secretly under the Apartheid regime in 1959 to show the real conditions in South Africa, instead of the white representations displayed in the travel picture catalogue. The director Lionel Rogosin did not use actors in the film, residents were used in order to show the real conditions of South Africa under Apartheid. The movie follows the character Zachariah in his travels to find work starting in the mines in Johannesburg to being a house-boy, car washer, and a hotel waiter in Johannesburg. As the movie depicts the movements of Zachariah to different jobs, a representation of black space is constructed. With each job a new location of black space is represented: the mine, servant quarters, township, kitchen work, and an auto-garage.

Audience: The work's target audience is adults visiting a gallery space or museum.

User Scenario: The user would walk into a room with only the chair and a projection screen on the wall. The travel catalogue slideshow will be projected on the screen. The user will go sit in the chair to watch the slideshow, it should be obvious that this is the action one should take since it will be the only objects in the room. As the user sits in the chair, the slideshow will become transparent allowing the movie Come Back, Africa to be seen. This will create hybrid imagery of the travel catalogue slide show with Come Back, Africa. As the viewer moves in the seat either the movie or the slideshow will be the prominent image. When the viewer leaves the seat, the travel catalogue will resume to be the only image on the screen.

Implementation (Work Description):

1959 consists of two main components, a chair and screen projections. The chair consists of a force sensor that is placed in the cushioned seat. The cushion consists of a foam pad, wood board for the bottom, and vinyl for the cover. The force sensor is placed near the back of the seat between the board and the foam pad. As the user puts more force towards the back of the seat, the higher the readings of the sensor. The wiring of the sensor comes out of a hole in the back of the board, instead coming out of the vinyl covering. The wires are hooked up to a bread board, which is connected to an Arduino. Both are suspended underneath the seat by rubber bands and nails. The only wiring visible to the user is a USB cord that runs from the Arduino to a computer.

The program used for the video projections is Processing. I was able to write a program that looped two movies, with one laid on top of the other. As the two movies run, the transparency of the top movie is determined by the alpha value that is received from the force sensor in the seat. The alpha value effects the tint of the movie allowing it to be opaque with a sensor reading of 0 to completely transparent with a sensor reading of 255 or higher. The movies are centered and half the size of the screen with a black background, to allow better image quality. The computer is then connected to a projector for the movies to be projected onto a screen in front of a user.

Conclusion: 1959 does create a hybrid imagery that combines different spaces of South Africa. Using Processing for the video does not produce the desired effect, the movies are too much information for Processing to compute thus making the movies run slow and causing abrupt transitions with lines running across the images. I would like to try another program, such as Max MSP or Open Framework. Once I get the movies running more smoothly, the images will be a better quality. I would also like to use XBee communication to get rid of the USB cord that runs from the chair to computer. Other than those two small changes, I am extremely happy with the outcome and that the video installation consistantly works. I was able to produce the desired imagery and interaction with the videos.

Reference:

Colourful South Africa. (1959). Pretoria, South Africa: South African Tourist Corporation.

Rogosin, K. (Director). (1959). Come Back, Africa [Motion picture]. South Africa: Mystic Fire Video.

Shiffman, D. (2008). Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and

Interaction (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics). San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann.

Mid-term Project: Video Theater

For my mid-term project I decided to create a mini-theater for an interactive video.

Video: I created 2 short movies for this project. The first movie is a slide show of travel images of South Africa. The images come from a 1959 travel catalogue from the South African Tourist Corporation titled "Colourful South Africa" and my personal photographs of South Africa from a Study Abroad in 2007. The second movie is a montage of clips from the movie "Come Back Africa," which was created secretly from the Apartheid government in Johannesburg in 1959. "Come Back, Africa" was created to show the real conditions of Apartheid, while the travel catalogue shows wish images. The 2 movies will be layered, with "Come Back Africa" in the back with travel photos in the front. Both movies will be playing on a loop, but the first movies of travel photos will have variable transparency from the sensor readings by changing the alpha value of the movie. This will recreate a hybrid image of Apartheid pastoral wish imagery and the submissive exotic native with the imagery of the modern black man.

Switch: For the switch I made to metal mesh pads with foam in-between them. Originally I thought that the foam was conductive, which it was not. So I ended up cutting the foam to create holes so when pressure is applied the metal mesh will make contact and close the circuit. I then wrapped the metal mesh switches in the non-conductive foam to create a pad, which be used on any seat.

Interface: The interface consists of the switch being covered by a beach towel on a chair. Arduino and the breadboard are placed in a headphone cover and pinned onto the bottom of the overhanging part of the towel. The USB cord is ran from Arduino under the towel to a Mac book. The video is shown on the Mac screen. To make this a theatrical experience, I constructed a stage to cover my Mac book with a red curtain.

Outcome: As the viewer sits on the seat, their movement will produce various serial readings. These readings dissolves the travel imagery allowing the imagery of the masses of black modern men traveling to work upon the theater.

A Stroll in the Hood

So I've been strolling through my neighbor the last few weeks looking for interesting sensors. Well, during my little walks I have only noticed atm card-readers, push buttons, and touch-screens along with cell phone touch-screens and buttons. I would occasionally see closing doors for storefronts that use a key that allows a button to be activated to bring up or down the large metal door. I also noticed building intercoms that typically have buttons, but I have seen the video intercoms before. No really interesting sensors to report. I'll still keep an eye-out for interesting sensors in the days to come. Still hoping for some interesting findings.

Notebook Light- Round 2

I took this original layout of my notebook light and reconfigured it so that the wires would not disrupt the use of the light.

To begin I twisted the wires to make just one adjustable "wire," solving the problem of two wires getting in the way. I then soldered the light, which I got from a mini-flashlight, to the ground and power wires. I then soldered the ground and the power wires to pins that are secured in plastic. I attached the pins to the back of the notebook with some tape.

I then attached a 4-AA batteries pack to the circuit. The power wiring runs straight to the pin on the back of the notebook. While the ground wire is ran to the light bulb. I taped some wire mesh on the front of the notebook so when the two covers meet in the open position the mesh will connect the circuit. As demonstrated in class, the power supply was too great for the light bulb, which originally only needed one AAA battery.

I did attempt to make the power supply be a AAA battery by soldering wire mesh to wires, then having the battery rest in-between the mesh. This however did not work, therefore I attempted to use the 4-AA battery pack that came in the Physical computing kit from the NYU bookstore.

Good Design vs. Bad Design

One bad design that I have noticed through the years are the entrance door card-readers for Bank atms. When the user walks up to enter the atm room, there is a slots to insert your atm card. This is awkward to use because the design itself does not indicate how to use it. The user can figure out to put the card into the slot, but one does not know how far to insert the card and what orientation the card should be in. I've seen many encounters of users, including myself, struggling to figure out the orientation. The design does clearly indicate that the card should be insert with the thinnest width and the shortest height. But even with this much information, there are still 4 optional positions of orientation. Typically there is a arrow pointing to the corner that the magnetic stripe should align with. However, at most atms the sticker has worn off the metal scanner. Therefore the user has to try all 4 options until the green light blinks and the door is unlocked.

I find this design to be annoying, especially during bad weather when it's hard to handle the card, insert properly, wait for green light, and then open the door before the unlocking times out.

A better option would be card scanners that one uses on cash-registers or even at Bobst library entrance gates. This design is better than the atm door reader, because there is only two options for swiping the card. The user knows that the card-reader needs to detect the magnetic stripe to get a reading thus clearance for entry. By have a swiping position, instead of inserting, the user knows that the magnetic strip needs to facing down to go through the reader. This leaves only left or right side of the card as a possible position. Thus it is easier for the user to have the card in hand with the magnetic strip on the bottom portion of the card, then swipe. If the reader didn't get a read simply flip the card so the magnetic strip is facing the other direction and swipe. Thus gaining access quickly by having only 2 options and having the two positions be a quick adjustment from a simple flip of the wrist.

Week 2 Switch

I decided to try my luck at making a switch that would turn on a LED when writing in a notebook. I decided to put the switch plates on the front and back cover of a notebook.

The plates are pieces of screens that are soldiered to a wire. The square screens are attached to the notebook with foam mounters. When the notebook is opened the front cover will flip around to meet the back cover. Once the square screens meet, the LED lights up.

The screen sensors work quite well, they only need the slightest contact to close the circuit.

As you can see in the pictures, having the switches on both the front and back cover requires wires to run to both. Running the wires to the front and back make the motion of flipping the cover around to the back awkward. The wires travel the circumference of notebook edges, thus long wires are required. Once I discovered the awkward motion of opening the notebook due to the long wires needing to travel the circumference, I decided that a different switch was need to overcome the impracticality of opening the notebook with wires on both covers.

To overcome this dilema, I plan on making a Force Sensitive

Resistor (FSR). If I make a switch that is only on the back cover of the notebook, the wires can run along with each other thus making opening the notebook natural.