anyways. i’ve since made glowundies. pictures and more info coming soon.

(and here is the link to the entire presentation, including precedents, more fleshed out ideas, and more colors.)

* * *

All these following ideas and interests, it seems, relate to (mis)communication, or an entire lack thereof. also, regardless of design problem i choose to tackle, i intend to do a physical computing project, perhaps incorporate actionscript/c++, and i had initially planned on introducing game elements but i’m not sure how well that would work out given the following ideas.
(MIS)COMMUNICATION I am exploring miscommunication and misrepresentation of information in an effort to understand and convey this occurrence both in our representation of ourselves as well as in the media and our daily lives. <more;how/why

ME, MYSELF, MEMEME I am exploring miscommunication and misrepresentation of information in regards to the self self and identity to better understand the difference, if there is any between the self as we perceive ourselves, what we project to others, and how others perceive us. <more;how/why>

ALL WE NEED IS LOVE I am studying (romantic) relationships that never got a chance, in order to create an interface (possibly, probably, hopefully in the realm of wearable technology) for them to exist because, well, we gotta give love a chance, right? <more;how/why>

what i said:

…since i’m having some success with servos (“success…”), and i have 18 styrofoam heads which i won off ebay, well, what if THOSE were controlled by sensors in my feet/shoes? or that doesn’t really make any sense does it? but it would still be servo control. or i could control antenna’s on THEIR heads, instead of my own. or wait. how about this. it’s about telling secrets, and gossip. (whoa! concept! as lame as it is…)

• a pattern of (upto 18) styrofoam heads, grid perhaps.
• shoes with controls in toes. (controls still = touch sensors because i need variable resistance)
• each toe controls the rotation of a particular head.
• depending how hard/long you push, head continues to rotate (stepper motor? do I allow the user to surpass the 180 degree mark?)
• upon release (here is where i will need to figure out more things, i dont know exactly how this will work..), the head stops rotating, AND
• mouth lights up with one solitary LEDS and point the light a stream toward the head which it is facing (what sort of LED do i need? do i
• hack a lazer pointer? can i buy LEDS that lazer pointers use? this sensing with light, is this infared sensing? CAN I DO THIS?? i will read more on infared sensing..)
• the LED should be angled from mouth to ear position to simulate speaking, communicating, “telling secrets”
• this triggers that head to begin rotating
• this continues, and the heads trigger eachother to move and “tell secrets”
• - (do I allow the user continued control after head one, or does it become automatic? or is automatic and the user has the option of interrupting them? i think that is better)
• but wait. a few steps back. i’m also thinking, that it starts with the user speaking/whispering something into a microphone, they push a button to record. maybe the mic is actually the ear of one (any? all?) of the heads. that seems to make sense, goes with the telling a secret metaphor.
• that first head will randomly choose which head to tell that secret to (or maybe the user has this control)
• from then on, the heads will rotate a specific number of degrees before triggering the next head. this could be the same number of degrees (pulse width) for each head, or each head has it’s specific rotation degree. it could also be different each time for each to look random enough, but in fact it will be planned.
• with the rotation comes the playback of the sound (i have figured out how to do this—though the amplification is, as you know, an issue.)
• as the “secrets” are retold, they change slightly – the audio changes slightly
• the sound is important but not that important that you have to understnad it
• it will be soft but audible
• as it’s retold, it’s still being told by the head that told it (does that make sense? why would that head still be talking?)
• so soon they are all talking, talkign over each other
• i think another user can interrupt, as i brought up earlier, and tell a new secret, then this starts everything off again, but the old secret is still being told, so it’s all getting mixed up
• the user can tell the secret to any head i think.
• maybe i don’t need infared sensors, maybe i just need to program it to move in a certain pattern depending on which head starts it.

did this make any sense? do you think i can do this? do you think it’s bad to abandon the shoes? because the shoes don’t really mkae sense with this..

joel’s feedback:

in response to your project description below, wow!

it doesn’t feel like the shoes portion of the project are going to make any sense with the styrofoam heads project [toe wisperer? wierd].

some quick thoughts about the heads:

they could be programmed to turn towards eachother [mouths to ears] with either servos or steppers, and would ‘know’ where the other heads are for listening and speaking.

how would the secret get kept? you mention that it could be some kind of telephone game… with the secret getting garbled, or loosing/gaining information. how could you do that?

could one head turn and tell your secret to the other heads, and tell each head a different word from your secret? the info gets distributed. as the heads collect bits of secrets, they start to build a vocabulary, and each head can make a unique statement that may or may not have meaning.

just a couple of thoughts off the top of my styrofoam head.

the heads is a pretty big project, and i would want to push you to make it really strong, so i will encourage you to sign up for Advanced Physical Computing [or whatever they’re calling it these days] which i believe is being offered next spring [07]. additionally, you should make working out the problems for this project a goal for the summer, now that you have the skills.

p-comp
1. finish project with insoles…
2. make lamps like the one i saw for $2000 at moss…
3. make a similar thing to the thing at the drawing center.. loop animations going back and forth – the paper rolled up and down between two states automatically on some sort of mechanical thing..

other
pixflips 2.0
podcast…
old animation stuff…
finish field guide

trace type…

cigarette wrappers… – should it be more conceptual??

get candy bars/japanese candy/look at design….

i’m interested in design, drawing, ink, photography. i want my project to be highly visual. ineractivity and concept is of course importnatn but, the reason i ever came to parsons was because i felt i was a designer and visual artist and i feel like i left all that behind last year and it frustrates me. it’s my own fault, i know, but i’m just saying, i need to bring that back. but maybe i’m working backwards. but this is how i need to start this. and i’m sucky at being conceptual. sucky. did you hear me? sucky.

i’m intrigued by the likes of louise brooks and old glamorous hollywood. and my friend and co-unicorn, ashley as a lounge singer. i think that should be her thesis. she’s got a hell of a lounge singin voice.

i wish i could make furniture. chairs are beautiful. sigh. like those brazilian brothers… their chairs i mean, that’s what i’m talkiing about, i mean, maybe they’re beautiful, i don’t know what they looked like. but their chairs were freakin cool.

i like to write. i’m certainly not a poet but i’ve been writing haikus lately with my internet boyfriend. yes i have an internet boyfriend. it’s weird, i’m well aware. but it’s just haikus. that’s all it’s really about. and we sort of almost knew eachother once. that’s also what it’s about. or maybe it’s all in my head and he doesn’t really even exist (see below) i hate when that happens.

let’s talk about ebay and my addiction to it. this is posisbly something i’m interested in, addiction in general, (not substances) but specific to the idea of things, stuff, possessions. the idea of possesion and the need for possessions, stuff… do they make me a better person? do i feel better about myself? why am i, and, well, others – surely i’m not alone – in need of all this STUFF to fill some void in my/our li-fe/-ves? is it related in some way to validation? my friend and i were talking about our unhealthy take on relationships and that perhaps we do what we do in search of some sort of validation. validation of what? beauty? that we’re good enough? good enough for what? how about validation of existence? i’ve lately been answering the question of why bad things are happening to me, and my friends sometimes, with the fact that, well, we don’t really exist, that’s why. none of it matters, don’t stress, we don’t even exist! okay perhaps that’s a little ridiculous, but who said i had to make sense? it’s my blog and i’ll ridicule if i want to.

keywords.. addiction, stuff, possession, validiation. beauty? existence. reality. psychopathy. schizophrenia. self..? mememe.

this makes me think a little of lisa (daly’s) project last year. maybe i will talk to her.

the other idea i am (sex) toying with (hahha i’m so punny) is an educational sex toy. i won’t go through with this because it’s too riské and my parents would be devastasted, this they just would not understand. i will create a separate post for this.