Second Front live interview review

The Second Front interview was a refreshing and interesting live broadcast. I was actually looking forward to the live interview and log in to adobe connect early to catch a glimpse of the content of the video. I was at that point formulating a question that I could ask the Second Front crew later on in the interview.

The interview started. It was a new experience to me that I get to see the faces of the people that were behind the Second Front’s avatar. All of the members of the Second Front crew were looking great and fashionable. The interview discussed the process behind the world, how they consider the audiences and social issues and we were able to ask them questions on the chatting section.

I have to say that the interview did not go well in the beginning. There were latency and lag from each live feed. At one point, the host’s (randall parker) adobe connect crash, resulting in me getting disconnected with the meeting as well. However, the content and the process shared by the members of Second Front were very educational and have taught me a lot about the “third space”. It has also come to my mind that the interview was similar to the one that was done by the Videofreex. I was able to interact with the video and they were able to interact back, the “virtual leakage” concept was still present ever in the interview.

In Conclusion, the Second Front interview with Randall Parker as the host was an eye-opening experience for me. I was glad that I had the chance to peek behind the curtain to analyze the process of their work and their further plan in Second Life.

Research Critique: Second Front

The Second Front

The Second Front is a group of artists performing in the public virtual space that is the world of Second Life. The interview with the Second Front crew revealed their preferences in terms of their video broadcasting location, their methodology in creating their pieces and how they viewed their video.

The performance by Second Front was often shown in the public and the crew actually called it the “virtual leakage”. I believed such concept was similar to what we had learnt in our previous lessons. The ability to interact with the audiences and the audiences were able to interact back. An example of such concepts existing before the Second Front was the VideoFreex and the way they broadcast their content as well.

Second Front Performance

In the article, the Second Front had shown us another side to our humanistic behaviour when we were online interacting with one another. The Second Front had avatars and were able to do bold and crazy actions online in the world of Second Life. For example, in the video that was posted, Second Front was actually robbing a bank in the virtual world as part of their performances art. It proved to us that we often put on another persona when we were in the “third space”. The persona that was created often had very contrasting characteristic and behaved very differently from us in real life. I believed that the reason was that in the “third space”, we were able to do anything without any legal repercussion or consequences that we would have to bear later on. In such environment, people were able to explore and truly behave how they would like to and no one would criticise them. Such phenomenon was often seen in MMORPG where the player could be whoever they wanted to be and do whatever they wanted to do.

In conclusion, the Second Front is very relevant in today’s culture in the “third space”/internet where people were able to interact with one another in their “second life”. It has pushed the “third space” performance art further and brought up the concept of how our avatar was just ourselves in another form.

Co-broadcasting experiences

Part 1:

For school

Posted by Goh Chersee on Thursday, 12 October 2017

Part 2:

Co-broadcasting

Posted by Goh Chersee on Thursday, 12 October 2017

After 8 weeks of broadcasting, I considered myself as a professional in creating a live feed for the audiences. However, learning about the Co-broadcasting function on Facebook Live have changed how I would do future streaming.

Technical Difficulties 

One of the major problems of Co-broadcasting or just live streaming had always been the connection problem. I was hosting the stream while Xin Feng was joining me and she was having a problem with the internet connection. The stream turns out to be fine, but there are a few parts that were laggy and the audio was all messed up.

Another improvement that the Facebook Live could develop on was to allow more than just 1 person to join in the live streaming. It would emphasize on the concept of super participation and allow our team to explore many ideas utilizing the function of Co-broadcasting.

In conclusion, I would definitely use this function in my team’s final project.

 

Research Critique: Jennicam

Jennicam was a webcam video that broadcast the life of Jennifer Ringley to the internet. It was 7 years of constant broadcasting about the mundane and intimate life of Jennifer, how she challenged the idea of video content and giving up your own personal data to the world.

The online artwork is still relevant in today’s society where we are constantly surrendering our data to the public. We filled up the forms and agreed to terms and condition without even looking at it. Our browsing history was being sold to companies so that they could better understand our interest and advertise what is relevant to us. All of the example above were just some of the reason why Jennicam had such a huge following. It brought the concept of living under the public eye to the extreme and proved the statement.

Jennicam have also brought light to the idea of “third space” and how constantly living in the virtual space had repercussions. The webcam had bought the idea of broadcasting even further and explore the negative effects of such idea. Having your personal details being revealed today (detail such as addresses and medical condition) might cause “swatting” of your house and even death threat being sent to your address.

One of my favorite email last year, I’ve got a message from a guy that said he was in college and its Friday night and he felt like a loser cause he is sitting at home. But he turn in to jennicam and I was in there on friday night doing my laundry. So he said it made him feel better because he knows I’m popular.

The quote above was from the David Letterman interview with Jennifer Ringley. Jennicam had also bought up the hidden desire of human nature, to feel accompanied even when there isn’t anyone around. The third space was able to achieve such results and form a unique relationship with the audiences.

In conclusion, I felt that Jennicam could still be the narratives of the society we are living in.

OBS Technical Session

The Technical Test for both Xin Feng and I was to eliminate the lag between both feeds as the delay might prove to be more distracting during the live feed.

Google Hangout

Both I and Xin Feng thought of using Google Hangout to connect each other. As we tried to use each other Facebook live video as part of our video, the inevitable lag between both live feed made the performance a lot harder and it would make the visual a lot messier.

Audio

The Audio should be simple, as there isn’t any background music that we will be playing in our live video. It is more essential that our voices are accurately recorded in our video. Google Hangout allowed us to have a proper conversation on the live video.

Things to take note of 

I believed that there will still be lag between both of us as having OBS, Facebook Live and Google hangout running in the background of our computer took up lots of processing power from the CPU. The connection in the school might also be part of the factor that lag will occur. The only effective way to eliminate all lags would be to have a computer with a higher processing power and a stable internet connection.

Link to our Technical Test

password- randall

 

 

Final Project idea #1

 

For my final project, I wanted to do make a simple number game where a group of player interacts with the device to change the number. I had sketched up how the product was going to look like and how it would likely function. I was inspired by the example Daito Manabe when it was first shown to me. I wanted to work with electric shock and this was one of my ideas.

Component – Arduino, Laptop, Monitor Screen, Electric shock pad, Buttons, Controller.

Rules for the Game

This would be a turn-based game that requires a group of 2-4 people in order for the game to work. A random number(number A) would be generated at the beginning of the game, from 1- 40. Number A would be hidden from all players. At the same time, another number(number B) would be shown to all players, the value of Number B is 0. For each turn, a player can get to press the button that was issued to them, up to 5 times, then rotate clockwise to the second player, so on and so forth. Each button press would add 1 value to number B. If number A and number B line up, a shock would be dispensed to the player that last press the button.

 

 

Device of the Week #4 – ProPILOT Chair

ProPILOT Chair is a chair with weight sensor and motor install into it, making it part of the mechanics on how it would work. The primary function of ProPILOT Chair was to allowed people to stay seated while the chair rearranged the queue, eliminating any people with the intention of cutting the queue. The invention also made it easier for people to proceed on their business(scrolling through their phone), while the chair moved by itself to the front .

Component – Chair, Weight Sensor, Motor, Software, Sensor for dictate where the chair move

The device could have great use if the person is disabled. The technology could be considered a double edge sword that could spoil the public. However, this device could be a good way to manage crowds and the waiter could tell if there is a queue outside of their establishment. It is also better for elderlies or children as they might not have the strength to keep on standing for long periods of time.

 

 

Device of the Week #3 – Palette Gear

Palette Gear is a device that would normally accompany a software such as Photoshop or Illustrator. The modular design of Palette Gear allows the user to customize their very own workspace that suits their needs and habit. Each and every cube is connected using magnets and either ‘male’ or ‘female’ connectors on its side, only the ‘male’ is able to connect to the ‘female’. The cube with the screen act as the ‘base’ as it serves as a port for all other cubes to get their power.

Component – Sliders, Knobs, Buttons, Resistor, Female and male connectors, magnet, USB cable

Palette Gear is a product that benefits professional that was in the design industry. It allowed a more efficient workflow and workspace that could integrate the habit of the professional with the software such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

The product was complex to make. Knobs, sliders, and button would give input and create a shortcut for the users. However, the software or driver would be extremely complex to mimic as it allows the user to customise and change the layout of the Palette Gear. I believed that such product should be seen more often in the future as it would further enhance our working habits.

Device of the Week #2 – Nike Mag

Nike Mag or Nike Air Mag is a product by Nike, promoting Michael J. Fox Foundation and help find the cure for Parkinson disease. It is a self-tying shoe that would activate when a button is pressed. It resolves the problem and complexity of tying a shoe and the wearer do not have to worry about the shoelace untying itself during an activity.

Component -Shoe, Button, Motor, LED Light

It was inspired by the movie “Back to the Future” and it showed the futuristic vision of the product in our future. It was a simple idea that was executed well and had a functional use for people with a disadvantage.

One could imagine the mechanics of the self-tying shoe. When button number 1 is pressed, it would register an input and change the variables from the value of 0 to 1, and the motor will start turning clockwise, tying the shoe in the process. When button number 2 is pressed, it would register an input as well, but change the variables from 1 to 2, and the motor will start to turn anti-clockwise, untying the shoe. When no button is pressed, no input would be registered and the values of the variables would go back to 0, putting the devices in a neutral mode.

In conclusion, I really like how simplistic and functional a device can get.

 

Human + Exhibition Reflection

The Human + Exhibition explores the idea of enhancing human capability in a form of an augmented limbs. I find that the exhibition was a mind-boggling journey through all the ideas and artwork.

One of the weirdest augmented limbs that I find quite disturbing was the Sonochromatic Head by Neil Harbisson. The function of the tube at the top of the head act as a sensor that allows the user to listen to colors. The tube was surgically placed into parts of the brain that would allow such enhancement to happen. At first sight, I felt that it was a weird idea to be putting a “limb” on one’s head, but after hearing that Neil Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, rendering him unable to see color at all, it started to make senses. Each time a color come in front of the sensor, it would make a pitch, and the user could learn to recognize the pitch to identify the color. Neil was able to find joy in everyday lives through his “third eye”.

Augmented limbs such as Neil Harbisso’s Sonochromatic Head serves as a perfect example of how technology was able to help people with disadvantage and even function better than a normal human being. Neil Harbisso was able to detect infra-red and ultraviolet rays that would be potentially potent to humans. I believed that Human + had shown the possible utopia of mankind that human enhancement(cyborg)  would be the betterment of humanity. However, there would always be another side to the story.

The Optimization of Parenthood by Addie Wagenknecht was a chilling artwork that showed the other side to technology. A robot arm would start to rock the cradle once a cry was registered. It might seem like a good idea that would help parents to parent their child. However, on a closer look, it might not be as ideal as it seems to be. Having a robot arm as the nanny would remove all kinds of human interaction and replace it with algorithm and sensors. It would be a pity to miss all the moments with the parent’s child, having all such interaction to be replaced by an automatic system.

In conclusion, technology and human enhancement is the tool that could allow us to have a more comfortable future. However, abuse of such tools could have repercussion on our future generations and the responsibility falls on us to use it carefully.

A fun fact, a cyborg is defined

by a person whose physiological functioning is aided by or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device.

By that definition, a regular person wearing glasses or a handicapped sitting on a wheelchair were both also considered a cyborg. So the future of humans and cyborg living side by side were already happening in today’s society. The visions and ideas exhibited in Human + might not be so far-fetch after all.