Minnar – Assignment 3 (OP & Looking Outwards)
Part 1: Open Processing Account
username: minnar
link: http://www.openprocessing.org/user/20930
Part 2: Looking Outwards
See Something or Say Something by Eric Fischer is a data visualization project that analyzes where people are uploading images to flickr (mapped orange) and where people are tweeting (mapped orange), or both (mapped white). I’m fascinated by the exploration of what differentiates a place that someone wants to capture visually, and a place someone has something to comment about. I really like the ability to see concretely the differences between place to place, and I just generally really enjoy data visualization because I see it as a really great starting point for exploration and discussion about components of what defines our culture and how that varies from other cultures. Like is it that people want to take more photos instead of talking at places that are scenic? Or is a preference for people talking evidence of a more verbally intellectual community? I think it would be interesting to also parse the data from twitter and flickr to reveal what the top three topics these concentrated areas are talking about and taking photos about (or, even better, the distinctive things they’re talking about or taking photos of) given in real time when hovering over an area.
Cloud Pink by Everyware is an interactive installation where visitors are invited to touch and poke a sheet of fabric stretched across the ceiling, where a projection of swirling pink and blue clouds swish around in response to the participant’s movement. I’m not entirely sure how the mechanism behind it works, but I’m guessing they’re using a Kinect sensor to determine where the fabric is punctured, and Processing deals with the movement of and generation of the colored swirls. I mostly enjoy the sheer whimsical-ness of the installation, and just the physical realization of people’s childhood fantasies of being able to touch clouds. I think it could be even more interesting if the colors of the clouds were dictated by a sensor that measures the actual weather conditions outside of the gallery (ie: sunny daytime clouds are white on blue, rainy clouds are grey, sunset clouds are vivid orange and purple) as a way to bring the outside, inside.
Affection Station by Salvador Orara is a series of three booths that allow participants to tangibly experience the faint, inherent sounds produced by their mobile or handheld devices. One booth amplifies the little sounds emitted by their phone though a series of small speakers lined up against the wall (watch the video) where each speaker transmits one frequency, providing a surround sound-like experience. Another booth translates the little small sounds into gesture (video) that a person can visualize, and a final booth translates the small sounds into light (video). It reminds me a bit of FELD’s to hear the grass growing piece (that I blogged about last week) in the sense that the motivation is to reach a more tangible way to experience something that is very subtle and passed over in day to day life.