This was the final rendition for commlab. It was a short video Jill and I made. we added and improved the sound. hopefully it works better.

Click To Play

the guts to the soul washing machine.

So here are some pics. finally the machine was working.

Next day, I asked for help with Rob, brian helped me tons. he brought the heavy duty tools. Cooper stand attached with screws and tie downs and velcro to secure the projector!!

I must say the projector for me was like a jewel and did not play with it with much confidence. He did and it was very effective. and the projector was safe all the time.

Now I had a great screen projecting. but my window was too transparent. I had to cover it with contact paper. or vellum.

I cover the central circle but the the outer part was crazy. I had to ask for help to the girls who sew. how do you build a lampshade?

So I had the machine I had the help, but I did not have permission from ITP to bring a wasching machine in. Somehow I found that it was of utmost importance I got a permission, and I really focused and obsessed in getting it. at the end, it was so much easier than I thought even though I still felt I did not have a full disclosed permission.

SO I needed to project my processing sketch in the front window. Not a screen but projector. One option was to project from outside, but was very out of the question, If I did that the person would block her own projection.

the other option was using these tiny really small LED projector. it worked wonders.

…. not yet. the space inside the machine, in the drum was too small. My projection seemed like postcard and you could not see your own reflection.

They (Danny, Rob, Ariel, Jeremy) suggested me using a two way projection. I did that it grew but still was not filling the whole screen.

Again I was suggested to use a THREE way projection, the projector on top of the drum, a mirror on the bottom and another on the back to project to the front. it worked… kind of. it was still not absrobing the whole window.

My window even had a weird shape so I needed to get all the screen real estate I could.

At some point I though of just opening the machine from the back, perforating the drum inserting the projector and be done. That was not that difficult, but it would mean the machine would be useless afterwards.

I did want to give to some institution or NGO that could use later.

So I clsed the back of the machine again, and tried a projection diagram ariel gave me, prjector in the front at the back, a mirror in the bottom front, and mirror in the back and voila!!

not yet….

the projector had a hard time staying in position. The drum was moving and needed to be secured.

I spent one whole day playing with the positioning of the projector. I even covered the drum in Mylar, tapping on the experience with mirror girl.

I went back home, knowing I was close but not there yet.

SO this is just a part of the process of getting the washing machine. It was one week before finals, I proposed to do a watching machine, a machine that could take your reflection and wash it while you looked and stared at the window of the machine.

I really liked the idea of how the sound can be very inmersive, how the washing ritual can really absorb you and how it is the only time you have to actually sit and wait and be comfortable.

here is the sound

So after many days looking into Craigslist and Freecycle, finally one friday night like 7 pm I found this post that said.

OFFER: Washing Machine – Bosch 24 “AXXIS” req’s drain cycle repair
Posted by: “Margaret (Mollie) Meyer”

White, compact Bosch Washing Machine.
Front loading.
2.1 cubic capacity.
Stops in the drain cycle so will require repair.
LED display.
Cost $1,000 new – had for 5 years and has broken only now. Do not
want to deal with repair so hoping to find it a new home.
MUST pick this up on Saturday (12/6) in SoHo between 2-6pm and have
someone willing to carry it out as I will not be able to assist with
carry or with transportation.

Link to review washer here:

http://www.universal-akb.com/24boaxwawf.html?productid=24boaxwawf&channelid=FROOG

These are the pictures of the adventrue to pick it up.

I got three wonderful friends from ITP to help me out. I was very excited to tell them I had found one, a washing machine that did not cost me money, that I did not need to go out of manhattan to pick up, that had a front window, and that was mine If I only I picked it up.

Jorge and Ariel told me they could help me carry it. Now I just needed to get a man with a van or car service or get the trasnportation.

I was telling many people in ITP I had found the machine, I was telling those who had been upto date on my search. So I told Liesje and she offered to get a zipcar for one hour to go get it. It was incredible.

So here are the pics.

just wanted to share this link with the blog.  it is a photo of jee in her great role as mirror girl for the short film in commlab.  It was a great experience, working with two great allies.

http://www.wunderbloc.com/neighborhood/fashionista.php?personId=866&neighborhoodId=all

I learned all about relays, of which I did not know a thing  before. I actually had a very hard weekend on the very first meeting with them. 

So  they are as far as I understand a magnetic switch that closes or opens when I tell it to.  in this case it will server as my finger pushing the play button.  When the arduino “hears” something thru the microphone it will have the relays “push” the play button of my recording module. 

It was during those first trials I burned my recording module. 

Video  created in after effects.  for the communications lab course. 

This was created by jill and myself. over the course of one day. 

This clip is really inspriring for the pComp project I am building.

nina katchadourian

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/confusinganimals/caralarms.php

tatiana arocha

http://www.tatianaarocha.com/

natalie jeremijenko

Mad Scientist

Natalie Jeremijenko is engineering a new approach to environmentalism.

some many pics that I found interesting.

this quick but relevant trip was very good, it gave me new ideas to apply towards the zoolyphone. I saw a big whale, the african mammals, the dinosaurs, the american mammals 200 fish, 300 shells, a flying octopus, a christmas tree filled with hanging stars, masks from the inuits, a giant hanging canoe, a baobab tree with all its insects contained withint the tree in glass tiny holes. I saw how to identify gases in space based by their colors,  I saw the birds of northamerica, a giant ant and a giant mosquito.  I walked amidst 500 butterflies raised in butterfly farms in southamerica flown by plane to a mini green house inside a giant museum in a freezing new york city.  If they only knew they did not fly south for the winter but north.

I saw the Climate change exhibit, I was impressed to see the polar bear floating on trash. I learned about music, language and human communication and how animals do the same things in their own ways. 

I know I got many many ideas, to reshape my project. but my brain is still

processsing… processing… processing..

again sorry for this…..

please wait while I post more pics.

pending pics

…..
please hold on the line while we tend to your request.

this short video was made for Comm lab course .

It shows the life of a girl with a reflective face walking around the city.

Perhaps people have seen it all…. but themselves.

this video was made with Ariel Nervaez Jeeyhun Moon and myself.
[music by bjork] [soundtrack from drawing restraint]

a list of pics exploring why I like bottles with light and water.

these pictures were found online through different search engines.

Here goes a piece of sound.
DAYS IN A LOOP

Lab for serial communication 2, need some more work.

Here is the documentation for serial communication.
stating the basic problem we are trying to solve. I believe.
serialcommunication

Worry Friends,

here is the powerpoint for the project.
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/euyMKgQIVvYDMH

The film for stop motion lessons in comm lab class

Click To Play

This project came out of a brief brief. I wanted to work with a servomotor, I wanted to reuse some of my older project, and I had in my head three conferences I saw on picnic network and TED.

One by Stefan Agamanolis where he talks about the Isophone, to enhance communication.

Another by Laura Trice, where he urges the TED atendees to say their needs outloud to improve their relationships and please always say Thank you. Something I have found not to be very common here in New York.

I got really excited with comics and comicc bubbles in Communications Lab after reading Scott McCloud.

And I have Red’s Class, for which I proposed a project that has kept me awake for at least two nights. and is related to this whole thing in a way.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/laura_trice_suggests_we_all_say_thank_you.html

http://www.picnicnetwork.org/person/21810/en

hope you enjoy, I just posted pictures, so to leave information to the user.

oh well, why not. This project I envision it to be on a pantry or market shelf, kind of attention deficit products, when you approach them they call you, when you leave they are sad.

If I leave the mooncake on the shelf, being a very traditional present it is also a very emotional product. hence it has feeling and is very “outspoken”.

It was really very interesting to read Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”. I read through it in barely two hours. I liked comics and at some point studied their history. I have never been a declared fan of comics, but now I find them very fascinating as a narrative form. I loved the way the author explained the whole issue regarding abstraction, and how to represent time. I had studied how time was represented in film, painting and music but never in comics. It really set the pace for many other mediums.

The book was realy inspiring especially, the way the japanese use of the panels. I really loved how they use the panels and drawing in a very subtle way. We experimented with our comic, hopefully it can come to an understanding.

When setting out to start the comic, we established what we liked about comics and what we wanted to work on. It was a very organical way of working, since we both decided to work on mexican and spanish adult romance and sex comics. They are very popular and the graphics, narrative and language is very particular. They are very sexually and violently charged. So we wanted to play with the grpahics, but we wanted to tell a whole different story, discharged of the violence ans sex as much as possible. The dialogues are shameful and often double what is being “said” in images. So we decided to make the comic without words, we would only use symbols. I still had in mind all the language that is used with autistic children.

So we started with that, we got 4 comics, sliced them open and started selecting the panels we liked. Afterwards, we started telling a story setting out our pages in the table. Then we scanned the images (after experimenting and losing many battles to the scanner and its settings) we got image files to work over in photoshop. We cut, cropped, pasted, added, removed and assembled the pictures to tell the story we wanted.

After wards Ariel assembled the 6 panels in a vertical way, to make it look like an ancient scroll. Then we had on my computer to continue working on it and try to make it webaccesible (it was ONLY 54MB).

With a little help of my friends, (Juri and emeri)

the file was compressed, flattened, and webready at 500KB. impressive.

and then it was on the blog.

This lab ws a bit easier, in the sense that it helped reaffirm some of the knowldege we had.

I  learned how to use a multimeter,  learned how to do plug, soldering lessons were reaffirmed. I did not quite grasp how to measure amps.

I did a short video, kind of a love o meter, showing my new found relationship with electricity, I am beginning to understand her and perhaps being friends with her.

Click To Play

Ok, my project is kind of working. I will be showing it in class, I still have one question, since I dont know why my LED wont go back to dark when it senses light.

please help.

This is the observation tour Liesje and I did on a bus from 9th street and 1st avenue towards the West Side Highway.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=40.732056,-73.990259&spn=0.007447,0.013347&z=16&msid=109328865333592036944.000457060808f93639a43

Trip from 1st Avenue to West Side Highway on a bus along 9th street.

time action location duration (aprox) number of people involved motor skills needed intent

12:25 We started 9th st and 2nd ave. We used the mterocard 9th Street 10 seconds each 1 hand/arm/ neck get on the bust to observe people

12:30 Theres a woman who asked for the bus to be lowered. 9th street 1 minute 2 (driver/passenger) legs, arms, fingers, neck, hand having the bus be more accesible

12:25-12:40 The japanese guy with iphone and ipod, antoher guy with headphones. And a woman with Iphone. 9th street 15 minutes 3 legs, arms, fingers, neck, hand multitasking while getting to ther destination

12:25-1 Sidewalk filled with cellphones, flip phones, iphones. 9th Street all conversations varied 30(each holding a different kind of celphone) legs, arms, fingers, neck, hand walking getting to their destination

12:40 A tourist with a camera 9th street 4 minutes 3 the mother, supervising father and the subject daughter legs, arms, fingers, neck, hand capturing a stoop in NYC

12:41 The tourist bus–people using cameras and interactive tourist guides. 9th street we saw at a stop sign, but assume the tour must last around an hour 15 arms, hands, fingers, neck visiting the sights in NYC

12:25-12:45 Bus is lowered when people get off 9th Street 1 2 legs, arms, fingers, neck, hand letting the old lady get down from the bus

12:25-12:40 using the yellow stripe to open the door 9th street 30secs 10 (the bus was not really crowded) hands and fingers asking the driver to stop the bus

12:25-12:40 The loudspeaker the driver usess to make announcements. 9th street 30 secs 1 hand and fingers to make announcements

12:37 UPS with handheld device. 9th Street 3 min 1 hand and fingers to verify address and receiver

12:38 using a wireless handsfree 9th street 4 min 1 hands and fingers (when initially set up) to speak on the cellphone hands free

12:39 More cellphones and ipods. 9th street 10 min 10 hand and fingers walking and talking

12:38 the metro card in the bus 9th Street 10 sec 1 hand, fingers to get in the bus

12:38 people swiping metrocards into the path train 9th Street 3 seconds 1 hands pay subway fare

12:39 a concierge talking on the cellphone 9th Street unknown 2 hands communicate

12:45 PM -12:50 PM lots and lots of people walking with cellphones Hudson River Park unknown 2+ hands, fingers communicate

12:47 tourists taking pictures with cameras Hudson River Park 30 seconds 2 to 5 hands, fingers take pictures

12:48 Babystiters talking on cellphones Hudson River Park unknown 2 hands communicate

12:48 runners listening to iPods with armstraps Hudson River Park unknown 1 hands entertainment

12:49 listening to music with large headphones Hudson River Park unknown 1 hands entertainment

12:50 opening a vending machine using a remote control Hudson River Park 10 seconds 1 hands open vending machine to add new merchandise

1:15 paying cab fare using touchscreen Houston 20 seconds 1 hands pay fare in cab
1:15 Map touchscreen in Taxi Houston 20 seconds 2 hands view position on map while in a cab

1:20 The woman at the restaurant with the touchscreen Houston 30 seconds 1 hands, arms order food for customers/communicate with the kitchen

13:00 Traffic guy with a walkie talkie canal west side highway. West Side Highway 2 minutes 2+ hands,arms communicate with other traffic managers
13:00 Operating gas pump interface West Side Highway 3 minutes 1 hands/arms pay for and pump gasoline
13:00 push button at the red light West Side Highway 10 seconds 1 hands change light color
More cellphones

12:05 Celphones in the cars, people with handfree and Bluetooth handsfree. West Side Highway unknown 2 hands talk to someone or listen to voicemail

1:05 The woman at the cookbook shop with computer and wireless phone, 13h05 7th Ave S. 3 minutes 1 or 2 arms, hands, vocal chords look up information, communicate
12:50 using a camera Hudson River Park <1 minute 2 arms, hands take a picture

12:25-1:40 PM using a digital voice recorder Lower Manhattan ~2hrs 2 vocal chords, hands/arms record this assignment

1:10-1:30 using a laptop Starbucks, Hudson St. 20 minutes unknown hand/arm movmenent unknown

1:20 using an ATM chase bank at Hudson and Charlton. 2 minutes hand/arm movement withdraw or deposit $$

1:30 Man on bus listening to iPod. All along 9th St. 15 minutes 1 hand/arm movement entertainment

1:45 Woman checking messages on a blackberry using her thumbs Hudson St. 3 minutes 1 or 2 hand/arms checking messages

1:43-1:48 using cell phones Christopher St and Hudson St. various ~15 (each talking to another person, so actually ~30) hands/arms communicating with someone

1:47 Using a touch screen restaurant system 518 Hudson 30 seconds 1 hands/arms ordering food for customers

1:47 Using a touch screen in Post Office Charles and Hudson 1 minute 1 hands/arms buying postage for a package

1:48 Using an ATM Right Aid on Hudson 1 minute 1 hands/arms withdraw or deposit money

1:49 Person in Travel Agency using a phone and laptop McCarthy Square unknown 2 hands/arms looking up travel information and communication with customers

Audio Files
http://drop.io/pcompnm

Walter ONG,

I found this book to be very interesting, although very complicated in its narrative. It brought to mind many ideas and projects and thoughts and ramblings I’ve had for some time.

Although, I still need time to wrap my head around the concepts that Ong proposes.

But some of the connections I could make with it are these.

Repetion the same joke.

In rural Mexico, and perhaps in many other places I can now see, people tell the same stories over and over. They sit down on the sidewalk with big chairs and stay telling the stories of the people, not in a storytelling fashion but more in a news, gossip and commentary fashion. I thing I have found very interesting is how for a joke, the punchline gets repeated a minimum three times.

I just read in Daniel Shiffman’s book, “What is the key to comedy? Repetition What is the key to comedy? Repetition” Anonymous.

These jokes told in rural mexico are usually tied in with a character in the town, or a to a story. By laughing off them, people learn things.

Sayings, Music and Albures

We have lots of sayings and other recipes for life that have never and will never be recorded or written.

I was talking with a musician before coming to NYC, and he had been comissioned to make music for a prehispanic audiovisual presentation. He was working on them, trying to get original sounds and music, but he posed some interesting questions. How do we know how did the music sound in pre hispanic days, if there is not a single music sheet saying how they measured time, how they kept beat.

and lastly I need to talk about albures, perhaps not something I am very proud of regarding mexican culture, however they play a role in communication.
SO what is albur
Usually, the game of albures is a subtle, verbal competition in which the players try to show superiority by using albures attempting to leave the opponent without a comeback.
In Mexico, an albur is a pun or a double entendre in which one of the possible meanings carries sexual undertones. It is very common among groups of predominately male friends, however, its use is considered rude or distasteful when not amongst friends, especially when in the presence of women.
Brozo (mexican parody of Bozo) has been known for having albureado several prominent political figures in Mexican television such as Mexico’s current president, Felipe Calderon (2006-2012).(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albur)

And I remember reading or hearing about how Alejo Carpentier, cuban novelist, attended a voodoo session and put to writing all the sounds that were generated, creating this really musical written word. He was the precursor of Magic Realism.

Also I want to comment more on these articles.

http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/862

http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/archive/being-there-the-washington-alphabet

These ideas all came to mind, while I was reading walter ong and I am still trying to connect, if it is actually possible to connect them.

Before I get dissapointed and discouraged with this project. I rather write it down. 

I want to build upon my car project.  I really like my toy car and I believe it can be worked upon. 

Using photo sensors, I want to establish the relatonship between the car and a Altoids Tin box.  The Tin box can either be “the owner” or the “car’s house” the garage.  So everytime the car passes by the tin box, a light will turn on showing “excitement” on the tins side.

I got my arduino and breadboard to look just like the pictures.

My potentiometer was woking backwards,  Juri and Adi helped me find out that my wires were wrong. We switched them and then it worked.   Now I need to unsolder. 

Now, how do I go from there. 

Questions:

What does PWM mean? Pulse Width Modulation? still what does it mean?

PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation. The speed controller uses PWM to control the power going to the motor. The controller breaks the current going to the motor into separate pulses that occur about 13,000 times per second. The percentage of the pulse that is on power compared to the part of the pulse that is off power determines how much power the motor sees. An oversimplified example is that if 50% of the pulse is on and 50% is off, the motor sees 50% power.

Now with adi, we learned how to use flexometers. 

It worked but the change in the LED does not show  very much, it is not amazing.

map function

ask about this

 map (minvalue,maxvalue, 0, 1024);

idea one

the car goes into a box and trns off the light since it is at the motor hotel.

idea two,

an altoids box when you open it the lights go on and a shape shows. very corny. but works.

Questions I got in the book and from the Lab. And yet I have not really finished my variable resistors project.

What is linear taper? wait, do I ned to know that?
what is an audio taper?

Why would I need a capacitor for?

Why would I need a capacitor?

What is forward voltage?

I dont get transistors at all or relays?

What kind of projects would I need Stranded Wire?

What about a servo?

Clock Crystals? Do i need to know about them?

What is a standalone device?

questions around flexometers.
map function
ask about this
 map (minvalue,maxvalue, 0, 1024);