Looking Outwards Final Project

For my final project I’m not exactly sure what I want to do. I only know that I want to work with sound. Without getting my expectations too high, i’d like to attempt to create a work which reacts to the conversations and interactions in a room. The projects I have selected each reacts to information presented to it. Some sound and some visuals.

Conversnitch – Conversnitch by Kyle McDonald is a device which listens to conversations around it, secretly uploads them to mechanical turk to be transcribed, and then tweets to the world what was supposed to be a private conversation. The integration of turking into this project is extremely interesting in that it is very difficult for computers themselves to transcribe audio. Integrating a “silent human” element to the work is extremely powerful because it makes the process still seem automated even though a majority of the difficult work is done by humans.

Conversnitch from Kyle McDonald on Vimeo.

Descriptive Camera – Descriptive Camera by Matt Rishardson is a device which snaps an image of an area and rather than out out that image, “develops” the image into a description of the scene in words. This project also uses mechanical turk to transcribe information but what’s most interesting about this project is that it changes what we expect. When a photo is taken we as digital individuals expect a lasting snapsht and when we are returned a description we are both jarred and freed. Freed in the sense that we can now use this information as we wish.

Giver Of Names – Giver of Names by David Rokeby literally gives names to objects which are placed in it’s view point. What intrigues me about this piece is that the computer is actively attempting to describe what’s in front of it with a name. It is immediately responding to information presented to it and then allowing the participants in the room to know it’s interpretation. I hope to achieve this in my final project.

The Giver of Names from David Rokeby on Vimeo.