OSS Final Hyperessay Part 2 – Fortune Telling

 

Fortune Telling Live Broadcast

Posted by Christopher Lee on Thursday, 8 November 2018

Concept

This social experiment aims to find out the boundaries of personal space and explores the idea of privacy in the third space. We often open up to people when we are talking one to one as inhibition is broken down due to the presence of comfort and personal space. What if this conversation is taken to the third space and placed in the limelight of online viewers and netizens? Will the conversation be the same as how it is in the first space? Or will the third space break the boundaries of comfort? 

 

Inspiration

Image result for paul sermon telematic dreamingThe idea of live fortune telling was inspired heavily by Paul Sermon’s Telematic Dreaming. In essence, two participants lie on individual beds in remote locations but they “share the same bed” in the third space. Even though they are not physically together, there is still a strong sense of intimacy and presence amongst the participants. From this, I wanted to see if similarly to Paul’s Installation, if deep conversations could be held through the third space and if, these conversations are held, will there be a presence of intimacy despite knowing that the other person is just some random stranger and the best part of all he or she is not physically with you?

 

Installation

Animated GIF

My Installation required an enclosed space and the Truss Room was perfect for that. In addition, I felt that the best timing for the fortune telling live stream was to be held at night/midnight as this is the time in which people are tired and exhausted from the day’s activities and tiredness results in a loss of inhibition, making oneself much more open to sharing personal stories.

Viewers will be invited onto the live stream and then I’ll introduce several topics for them to choose – love, work or friendship. After choosing I will tell them their fortune.

Along the way, I had the help of Sheryl and Mark (Really appreciate that) for the props and the setting. Fairy lights, candles and practical effects such as movement of the lights were done by my assistants and without them, this fortune-telling would have been a failure. The silver ball in the foundation room was the last touch as it fits perfectly in this setting. 

For the method of streaming, I was using Facebook Live on my phone as tested previously, the Facebook Live on the laptop cannot do a split screen nor invite people to come on to the video. I was quite disappointed by the quality of the reception as there were especially a lot of people in school that day but I still made do with the circumstances.

 

Process/Concepts

I started the stream by introducing myself as Christella the fortune teller and that I am inviting online viewers to participate in the live fortune telling by joining my stream.  I invited one of my friends, Kai, to join the stream. He was relatively happy and enthusiastic about joining and he chose the Love choice. After harnessing some from the silver ball, I was able to foretell his love life. 5 years down the road and he will be able to meet the love of his life. Her name would start with the letter “V”.  There was an initial brief barrier when Kai entered the conversation as both our conversations were being heard by other viewers. I tried to keep this performance something light-hearted at the start to try and make the environment comfortable for the viewer.  I realized it was still hard for Kai to open up or in fact, time was the limitation as to how much information we can share. However, I had this feeling that if the conversation lasted longer, we would both have forgotten the presence of viewers and might share something more private. This seemed to resemble Paul’s Sermon Telematic Dreaming in which the participant slowly forgets the stares from the onlookers and becomes immersed in the virtual
interaction itself.

 

The second participant was another of my friend, Charmaine. In her case, the reception was relatively bad because some other friends were also streaming in the same location and this resulted in a poor quality communication. Now that the participant is in first space and third space simultaneously, this highlights the idea of privacy erosion and that personal space is lost completely because now the participant is in the same space with her friends and also live on the third space.

Social Experiments provide a platform for criticism (Discovery)

 

When we expose our lives on the Internet, it is also a platform for criticism because of what you say and act, which results in the judgment and
critique of people. This was evident in the comment section of the live broadcast as people commented about unrelated topics. This highlights the idea that people are expressive in nature and they take on the role as both a spectator as well as a commentator.
That is the current situation in third space.

 

Reflections

Even though I felt that this experiment was incomplete due to technical factors such as reception, it has made me realized the difficulty for people who share their stories on a live stream or tv show interview. They have to go out of their personal space and become immune to an invasion of the privacy from both the audience and the interviewer as well. 

To conclude the learnings from this experiment, conversations through the third space can break privacy and personal space boundaries but factors of time and comfort have to be present in order for this to occur.  When a person is comfortable, he or she will tend to lower their situational awareness and hence be less inhibited in sharing their own private stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortune Telling Test Video

 

 

I tried to do a test run for the Final Broadcast Live to run through the flow of the whole performance.

There were certain issues that came up.

#1. At first, I wanted to use the laptop’s camera to do the live broadcast. However, I realized that the laptop does not have the ability to invite people into the stream which is my main purpose; to have an actual conversation with a person live through the third space. As such, I switched to mobile facebook live.

#2. I realized that people were also hesitant and unwilling to show their face on the stream as this was the initial privacy issue that I figured would happen. However, I have yet to have a proper conversation with someone as of now.

#3. Last but not least, I felt like the flow needs to be improved – I plan to make it more comical at first and then when barriers are broken down, I’ll switch to something much more comfortable.

 

 

 

DOW Senses/Metaphorical – Keyglove

Home

The Keyglove is an innovative new way to interact with your technology. A wearable, wireless, open-source input device,

 

Usage

  • Gaming
  • Design
  • Art
  • Music
  • Data Entry
  • Device Control
  • 3D Object Manipulation
  • Inexpensive telepresence

 

Functions 

  • Customizable touch combinations and gestures
  • Entering text data through the touch sensors
  • Controlling of mouse
  • Switching between applications
  • Performing multiple operations with a single action
  • Pairing it in games to equip weapons – similar to Vive Controllers

 

Alphabet Input

The design of the glove allows for multi-sensor combinations and hence, exponentially increases the number of possibilities than many other glove-based input devices. There’s 37 contact sensors and controller software that makes it possible to implement the entire English alphabet using simple one-to-one sensor contacts.

As of now, the Keyglove is still of the prototype stage and is still undergoing trial and testing.

 

Advantages of Keyglove

  • Complementary accessory for current technology since it’s standalone, multi-featured for the wearable computing market.
  • Eliminates the need for the keyboard
  • Perfect for handicapped or disabled users who are prone to or suffer from RSI ( Repetitive Strain Injury) – related injuries.

 

Disadvantages of Keyglove

  • Too many customizations might lead to confusion. Takes a long time to get used to it and might not replace the keyboard in the long run.
  • Intrusive as users need to spend the additional time wearing the glove. This means that the size of the glove is also an important factor in deciding whether it fits the user and whether it is comfortable

Things to improve

  • The user interface must be friendly and intuitive as there are so many functions to remember –
  • Needs to be packaged up to hide the wirings and circuitry.

 

References:

Keyglove.net

Hyper Essay #1 Proposal – Fortune Telling

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1toYdbXnLif9-eH23D1Y01X6OVTTRToYfZAmZ6EtDDmE/edit#slide=id.p

The idea behind fortune telling is that there is a mutual connection between both the participant and the fortune teller which facilitates the idea of the third space acting as a medium which transfers messages to and fro different virtual spaces.

In fortune telling, the ability to see a person’s future is truly fascinating. In order to achieve this feat, the fortune teller has to have an immensely strong connection with the participants and I would like to test the boundaries of whether this connection can be established in the third space or through virtual spaces. 

In addition, we always have the idea that the use of the internet is for communicating with one another. As such, we have skype, twitch and many other platforms which allow us to talk to one another through the third space. However, sometimes all of these conversations are mostly surface level. For instance, calling up friends to chat and participate in games, discussing about group work, etc.  I would like to push those boundaries  in which both the participant and I will both breakthrough surface level conversation and go into something deeper.

Concept: I would like to explore the idea of Privacy and Intimacy on the third space through live broadcasting. Just like Paul sermon’s project on Telematic Dreaming, people who are strangers came and connected with Paul just by lying on the bed and having that surreal connection through the third space. How is it that people actually find it comfortable to lie on the bed with another stranger without experiencing any discomfort or awkwardness. As such, I would like to explore the idea of how intimate the viewer and myself can get while the invisible boundaries of privacy are being taken down as we broadcast live.

 

 

[ L I G H T B A N D ] Finalized Proposal – Semester Project (Mark, Chris & Sheryl)

L I G H T B A N D

 

 

CONCEPT

An  instrument band that plays a collaboration of musical instruments which  reacts with light. 

We want to explore unconventional and alternative ways of producing/playing music, altering the experience and creating instruments that are unique, interesting and fun.

Music instruments: Viola, Snare & Cymbal

Viola

A light-sensitive instrument.

Consists of a main viola body with transparency strips integrated, light sensors, speakers & a LED bow. The instrumentalist will play the viola by sliding the LED bow over the transparency strips. The darker areas will reduce light and hence reduce the value that is outputted from the light sensor. The light sensor is then hooked up to the speakers and an Arduino to play a tone accordingly to how much light is received. We plan to do at least 4 tones.

Possible Sound changes

  1. Loudness
  2. GCAD notes
  3. Pitch (down the neck, pitch increases)

 

 

 

Snare

Consists of a metal can and several metal beads colliding with one another to recreate the sound of a snare. The can is attached to a push-pull solenoid
that contracts and retracts the can, shaking the beads. The solenoid is also hooked up to a light sensor and it push and pull will be affected by the light values.

The instrumentalist will play the snare by putting his/her hands to block off the light that is produced by a Lamp/LED light. By putting his hands in and out, this can form as a rhythm for the snare.

 

Cymbal

To create the cymbal effect, we will experiment on hitting the solenoid into the Tomato can. By theory, the solenoid hits like the edge of the drum stick. Hopefully, it creates the sound effect like hitting a drum cymbal.

Since this instrument is placed next to the snare, the instrumentalist will play the cymbal similarly like the snare by putting his/her hands to block off the light that is produced by a Lamp/LED light.

 

 

Projected Timeline

 

Monday, 15th October Low Fidelity Prototype Testing Light >  Light Sensors > Sound
Replacement of sounds (beep to maybe viola sounds)

Gradient strips

 

Monday, 29th October Refined Prototype If possible, might wanna change and sync with Ableton Live to produce quality sounds. We will work on the bass/snare instrument.

 

 

 

Final Presentation

Most likely be a documented video. If it makes sound rather than noise, there can be a performance.

 

 

Micro Project 5: Glitch Aberrations

 

Balance

 

A seemingly effervescent scene of purplish blue flower fills the still and mellow scene. 

Just like the seasons, the gloomy flower undergoes a change in its current phase of life. It all seems part and parcel of its life, just like a minor glitch in a computer’s life.

Time passes and it seems like it’s almost done with its natural cycle.

Suddenly out of the blue, a bright and cheerful flower seems to have appeared. Or that is what David Attenborough would have said. 

A sudden influx from the mixture of the two flowers causes a breakdown in emotions all the way down to molecular structure.

Resulting in a halfway state of limbo.

Winkbars – Handlebars to Guide You Home

Wink Bars 

Concept

Nowadays, bicycles are fully geared up with accessories such as your phone, speedometer, headlights etc.  The more gadgets you have attached to your bike, the more distracted you are from what you love most. Wink Bar aims to simplify all of that into one sleek and clean concept while maintaining most of the functions required. The tech is integrated into the handlebar with no screens in sight. Instead, it pairs to your smartphone via Bluetooth to offer navigation using lights to guide your every turn.

Features

Bike tracking system to counter theft

The bike has a tracking and alarm system and it is connected to your mobile. You can track its location in the event you cannot find it or someone has stolen it.
* the tracking feature is offered for 3 months, then a subscription of 1.99 € / month.

This is useful for forgetful people who don’t really remember where they park their bike, but not a revolutionary feature. The fact that information is being uploaded to a server means that the company is already using your details to generate a pattern from your lifestyle and cycling path.

GPS Navigation

Helps you find your way around easily. It has a guidance system to ensure that you travel around safely. The guidance system consists of blinking lights that guide you on each and every turn you make. This might reduce the complexity of the normal screen checking and makes it simple to navigate. However, I feel that sometimes it is good to get a rough knowledge of where you are going and where you are at now rather than just having a bunch of blinking lights guide you.

Smart Flashlights

Makes yourself more visible to the surrounding. 224 lumens for visibility at any time. The lights are integrated within the handlebars, reducing the need for any external holders and reducing the chance of people stealing the accessories. 224 lumens is not that bright as compared to standard headlights for bicycles.

Dedicated mobile application.

A simple and intuitive application which keeps track of ur fitness statistics such as distance, duration, calories burned for each ride. If you are a cycling enthusiast then this might be useful.

 

Add ons

I feel that the handlebars could add on a speedometer function. In which the number of lights will increase accordingly to how fast you cycle. So 20km/h you will see 4/6 led lights being lighted up and 40km/h will result in all 6 led lights being lighted up.