Research Critique: Jodi.org by Dirk Paesmans & Joan Heemskerk

Glitch is described by Rosa as a noticeable break from the flow of information within a digital communication system that causes errors in the overall presentation of information in a digital space. It causes the loss of functionality within a digital environment. With the understanding of this form of a digital mess, she focuses her understanding of glitch in the areas of political and social usages within the scope of digital art.

This is an area that team Jodi which consists of two artist Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans are actively persuading as well through their internet art project Jodi.org. It is a time before the internet space is polluted with overwhelming computer graphics and animations that screams for attention. Upon entering the term jodi.org and random web pages unload. There will be different types of websites popping up. It could be random words or broken HTML codes, video/photo montages and flashing glitchy error graphics spread randomly on the websites. By pressing, links/buttons available on the websites will bring the users to other websites that are just as random as the previous one. It exposed the visiting users to confusions and fear as they journeyed on this road of distorted websites. At the same time, it also invokes curiosity and enthusiasm among users to be involved in the notion of exploration.

Team Jodi questions the definition of errors in a digital environment by presenting websites in a distorted manner. Team Jodi explore the possibilities to engage relevant users through embracing digital mediums in their imperfect form. Their idea to dissect digital mediums into their basic parts and present them in individual components provides users to appreciate the digital environment from a different perspective. They question the role of glitch and the disruptive qualities it processes in a digital environment. The audience is challenged to rethink their perception of glitch as a negative digital component which cause frustrating experience of interruption in various digital environment. Team Jodi ultimately wants the audience to take up the responsibility to be connected with the imperfectness of glitch and view its supposedly dis-functional quality as a desirable quality. They want to understand the prospect of glitch as an artistic representation in the context of digital art.

Visual references of the various jodi.org websites.

http://wwwwwwwww.jodi.org/

Ascii art discovered upon exploring the source code of the webpage.

The webpage that informs me on the ascii art in the source code section.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7413106

Other similar websites.

There are also YouTube videos that showcase the various possible websites that the audiences can encounter.

Pirate Broadcasting | Youtube Poetry

For this pirate broadcasting/ micro project, I decided to live stream a youtube video playlist “Youtube Poety”.

This is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUa4wO6MoIU&list=PLXd–rZ4c_coIyLPEWmSVyh_hJcTuCBcM

This is the next best youtube video playlist other than “The Most Important Videos”.

This is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6EoRBvdVPQ&list=PL7hE85vptfo-T_Yv3ciyQTlc4FT1hdVGl

I tried on both Facebook Live and Instagram Live platform to see the potential responses from people that are online and bothered to watch my entertainment I prepared for them.

Facebook live final take:

Test run:

I tried it on Facebook Live. I had some technical difficulties during my first take but I did not take it down. Some how the likes and comments went this take instead of the later one which I did the proper take. I feel it somehow reflects on the internet environment that we are in now. Sometimes casual contents are the ones that went viral instead of contents that are carefully planned. It is hard to predict what the internet wants at the end of the day.

And yes someone shared my life feed as well. Ha ha.

Instagram Live final take:

Test run:

Next, I tried Instagram Live for another round to see the response. Somehow I feel users are more responsive on Instagram as compared to Facebook. One of the main reasons I feel is because Instagram is meant for videos and photos sharing and Facebook has these features but other features as well.

Other features such as the icons of users popping up on the screen when they tune in to your feed makes you feel that you are not alone and talking to yourself. There are also features such as an icon where you can send “wave” to your viewers for instant interactions. These features creates a friendly online environment for people to share and watch online content.

Anyway talking about funny videos, you guys should watch this as well:

#LEGEND

Device of the Week 2: Tile Slim – Bluetooth Tracker

Tile Slim: Bluetooth Tracker

The Tile Slime is a device that is slim enough to be slotted into wallets or purses. It is connected to the users’ phones via Bluetooth. The users can make it ring through the complementary application on their phones to recover their belongings.  If it is beyond the Bluetooth range, it will show the last known location on the map through the complementary application. The Tile Slim also has a button in the middle that users can press to make their phone ring even if their phones are in silent mode. The device can also be fixed onto a laptop, tablet, or another device through adhesive means. However, a device with adhesive purpose needs to be purchased separately.

Product Visualisation

Pros and Cons of the Device

Pros

1. It is a simple and viable solution for users that tend to misplace their things. Important things such as wallets and headphones are often misplaced by people. Such a device will cut down on the time wasted to find these items.

2. If users are unable to find their belongings with the device, they can tag their devices as lost and they will be registered in the application database. Any user with the application comes within the range of the lost belongings, notifications will be sent to the particular users.

Cons

1. It is based on a subscription model and hence users need to renew their plans yearly to enjoy the service of the device.

2. The battery of the device is non-replaceable. Therefore, it is faulty, the users need to get a new device or the device will not work.

Suggestion for alternate use and/or modification

This device can be altered so that younger children can wear them as well. It allows their parents to find them when they get lost in a crowded place. They can be designed with bright colors and children friendly features so children feel that they are wearing accessories instead of a device. Functions such as sending emergency notifications to nearby emergency organizations such as police stations can also be features added to the device to enhance its usability.

Pirate Broadcasting | Sushi Makan Session

The Sushi Express at Yew Tee point has a $1 per sushi plate offer. I decided to go down with my friends to eat some cheap sushi. Therefore, I thought it will be entertaining to do a live broadcast to allow people to watch me eat. It is quite an interesting experience. I will consider doing it more often. Just kidding.

The response for my Facebook Live Feed is pretty good considered the fact that I do not usually post such feeds. I received and felt so much love.

One of my friends even whatsapp me as he is surprised that I post Facebook Live Feed.

 

Device of the Week: Oclean One – Brush Different

Oclean One: Brush Different

Oclean One is a smart electric toothbrush that helps its users to improve their oral health by providing a customized brushing experience. As everyone’s teeth are different, the device helps to implement brushing routine tailored to the oral care needs of each individual using the product. Customized brushing routines are generated by the AI on the brushing device through the data it collected through the users’ brushing habits. Other factors such as age, gender, tooth condition, and diet are also taken into consideration as well. At the same time, users can also customize the brushing plans provided by the device to further customize it to their personal needs. Factors such as duration and brushing intensity are some of the factors that can be adjusted. The function of providing feedback to its users is another feature that I find greatly enhance its usability. After each brush, it will provide a score to indicate how well the users brush their teeth and provide information on the areas they can improve on.

Product Visualisation

Pros and Cons of the Device

Pros

1. One of the major positive points about Oclean One is its ability to provide its costumers a customized experience in brushing their teeth. The devices allow the users to customized their brushing routine through their own brushing habits and take their personal data into consideration. This personalized experience allows the users to feel control over their product as their product are cater to their personal needs only. It allows the users to formal a personal bond with their product instead of the generic relationship they have with the one size fits all toothbrush. At the same time, having a customized experience prevents information overload for their users. The device will present relevant information the users need through the personalized process. Users will not need to sort through a massive amount of information but will have a reasonable time to consume the information that is tailored to their personal needs.

2. The ability to provide feedback is another factor that makes Oclean One a positive product. It makes the users feel that the product is “listening” to them. Their actions will cause an effect on the response provided by their devices. It allows a positive bond to be formed between the device and its users. The users will feel they are not merely using the product but interacting with one. Through this positivity, it will motive the users to use the product on a constant basis to enjoy the feedback from the device. It can motivate and improve the performance of the users to allow them to get better at brushing their teeth.

3. In the long run, it will allow the users of the product to have better oral health as they are able to learn from the personalized date provided. With these data, they are able to recognize the areas they can improve upon. For example, a user might have a certain area of the teeth that constantly not brushed in a proper manner. If such information is pass to him/her through the device, he/she will be aware of such issues and rectify the issue during the next time he/she is brushing his/her teeth. This constant cycle of learning about ones oral health state allows people to be equipped with the information to manage their teeth properly.

Cons

1. To me, one of the major drawbacks of the product is its price and the need for maintenance. The device cost about SGD84.50 (Information from Lazada.com). I am not sure if the price is worth for its ability to enhance the brushing experience of people. At the same time, the device will one day malfunctions as it is, after all, an electronic product. Therefore, the user will need to send it for repair or get it replaced for a new one. The amount of effort involved in rectifying the problem makes me skeptical about getting the product.

2. As the product involved technical aspects such as the usage of an application from a smartphone, the learning curve involved might exchange certain group of people such as people from the older generation who are less technologically savvy. A portion of the people might not have the patience to learn how to use the product in the correct manner that will benefit them. Brushing of teeth is a simple routine for all and the inclusion of technological might prove to be too much for some to manage. They might feel the effort involved is too much to be able to enjoy a better brushing experience.

3. With such a device in the market, it makes us question the necessity to include technology into daily objects that are already doing their job well. Are we including technology into daily objects for the sake of adding because we are able to or are we really adding technology so we can enhance their usability? To me, I feel the inclusion of technology into these daily objects is too much. It complicates the simple notion of brushing one’s teeth even though it provides seemingly relevant information about one’s oral health.

Suggestion for alternate use and/or modification

The product with modification can be used by vets to gain health knowledge of animals they are assessing during medical check-ups. Besides cleaning the pets’ teeth and examining the condition of their teeth, it can serve other important function that can benefit the pets’ health. Through the product, the vets can gain insights on the health condition of the specific pet. If the pet is suffering from any form of illness, the product will be able to alert the vets of such happenings. The vets can also monitor the food the pest are consuming and are able to provide recommendations to their owners to improve the diet of the pets.

Kaboom! Concept development and prototyping (Fabian and Zhou Yang)

Project description:

The idea is inspired by the traditional game catching. The game will consists of two teams preferably equal number of people on both sides. Each side will be wearing slippers with LED lights of different colors to differentiate from the other team. (Red and Blue) The objective of the game is to turn the LED lights of the opposite team into the other color. (Red to blue or vice versa.) They can do it by attempting to position their LED light in front of the light sensors placed at the back of the slippers players are all wearing. The game ends when one side of the team had all their members’ LED light changed color.

Areas of changes/improvements in concept:

Since the start of the development process we had make the following changes /improvements to the prototype:

  1. We had changed the medium from shoes to slippers to create a more comical image of our prototype since it is designed for a game.
  2. Change in the sensors was also made as we realized the player catching another player has the tendency to “kill” himself/herself if he/she stomps his/her feet as it might trigger his/her own LED light. Therefore, light sensors are used instead of the players.
  3. The format of the game is changed as well. Before this, the game consisted of catch, healer and the rest of the players. However, we realized the structure of the game is not workable. For example, what if the catcher catch another player and he/she turns into the catcher. Does that particular person start catching people? If so how does the healer “heal” him/her. The conflict in gameplay caused us to change the gameplay into two teams of players. The two teams will try to change the color of the LED light of the opposite team.
  4. There will be a timing the led lights can be lighted up. It will be triggered preferably by a button the player can operate. It will have a cool down period. Therefore, the player needs to time when he/she wants to light his/her LED light when approaching a player from the opposite team. If time incorrectly, he/she will be at a vulnerable position to be “attacked” by a player(s) from the opposite team.

Process:

Testing out the blue and red LED lights.

Fixing the LED lights onto the slippers for testing.

Assembling the arduino set up on the slippers.

Major issues:

We faced the following problems while prototyping:

1. The LED lights were unstable. They were showing random colors and blinking in random manners.

2. The LED lights were not responsive when we interacted with it.

These are some of the issues we faced while building our prototype. After troubleshooting, we realized most of the problems were solved after we change some of the parts as they are aging and thus malfunctioning.

3. Due to time constraints and our lack of knowledge and practice in Arduino we could not get the light sensors to work. In the end, we created a button function for the set up to mimic the triggering of the LED lights when the light sensor is activated.

References:

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Control-an-RGB-LED-Strip-Arduino-Tutorial/

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/gol73/innovation-lab-5-push-button-rgb-led-color-change-6f4453

Our code:

Project testing:

From the video, the LED lights are changing colors through the press of buttons to mimic the triggering of light sensors which will result in color change. However, we are having difficulty to make the LED lights response in a consistent manner.