PROGRESS REPORT

Ben Glas, Jason Williams, Hilary Tsai

CULTURAL INTERFACES (REFERENCES)

- Webcam culture- Human/Machine relationship and interaction- Surveillance (on a personal level, as opposed to Government

surveillance)- Sound translation into visuals- Monotony of the computer and technology-centric society- “Cocoon” concept (the potential for a space in which people

are comforted by the 1-on-1 interaction between themselves and their own personal computer interface

Media devices and tools-Computers

-”Marky” facial recognition/distortion webcam

-Javascript timer to control what is displayed on the screens at any given time

-VDMX5 program that translates noise into visual effects

-Projector to display VDMX5 onto the wall-Speakers

-Voice distortion device

http://thingshappeningintime.wordpress.com/

http://asmallanddangerouscat.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/marky-facial-recognition-and-distortion-webcam/

Marky facial recognition live webcam

VDMX5 “Visual Sound” software

http://asmallanddangerouscat.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/vdmx5-sound-to-imagery-software/

Intended Use vs. how we’re using these things

-COMPUTERS: INTENDED USE IS FOR PEOPLE TO ISSUE COMMANDS TO THE MACHINE AND TO INTERACT WITH IMAGES ON SCREEN. HERE, THE COMPUTER HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN. IT’S ON A TIMER, SO THE USER CAN’T JUST DO WHATEVER HE WANTS. THE COMPUTER IS ALSO WATCHING THE USER AND NOT JUST BEING WATCHED

-WEBCAM: INTENDED USE IS TO COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN REAL TIME AND BE ABLE TO SEE THEM. HERE, THE WEBCAM REFLECTS THE USER’S OWN IMAGE, AND THE DISTORTION EFFECTS MAKES IT SEEM LIKE YOU ARE LOOKING AT YOURSELF THE WAY THE COMPUTER SEES YOU.

Structure and Orchestration-During the 10 minute period, participants will be seated at their own computers (the cluster of 8 desktops in the back of the room)

-Their attention will be divided between the webcam interface and the VDMX5 projection, though the computers will “demand” their attention more and more as time passes

-After a while, pop-up screens with text will start to appear, and the user will be prompted to hit space bar to continue. The pop-ups will continue to come, and the messages will be written in first person, as though the computer were a sentient being trying to communicate with the user

-Speakers will be playing an audio loop of a human voice broadcasting commands in a almost hypnotic tone. As time goes on, the voice will start to “melt” together into a monotonous hum

-The sound design, combined with the computer interaction, will result in a push-pull between the tedium of sensory overload, and the tendency to zone out while immersed in the world of electronic media

-At the very end, the screens will go black at exactly the same time, prompting people to get out of their seats

PROTOTYPES AND EXPERIMENTS

-At first, we tried moving some computers over to the corner of the room so that we could construct a tent over top of the computers. Our plan was to make the space as intimate and cocoon-like as possible, but for practical reasons we decided to simplify and just use the eight computers in the back. We believe that the intimacy will still be present because of the close interaction between user and computer.

-We have already tested the Marky webcam and VDMX5 on individual computers; we just have to coordinate it on a larger scale. This will be accomplished using a javascript timer, which Jason has prior experience with.

-Ben has done several tests with the voice distortion device, and has uploaded them to soundcloud. We just have to make a new voice recording using the script we wrote.

Timeline/Documentation

-By Thursday: Web Component-timed overlays (webcam interface and pop-up screens, etc)

-Tuesday and Thursday: working on recording voice loop and setting speakers up

-Before final presentation, we will likely run a test of the entire entire presentation so we can make any adjustments that need to be made

-One of us will record personal interactions between computer and user (the individual experience), and will edit video documentation. Another will be recording the experience as a whole (getting everyone in one shot and panning between the computers and the VDMX5 projection so we can get the “big picture”