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Sound Progress November 30, 2006

Posted by bunnymedia in Sound.
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I managed to make my basic patch last weekend and I have it all working with my sensors and lasers which is really exciting. All my sensors have been ordered and shuold arrive on Monday so I’ll have a long day of soldering ahead of me. I went to homebase and BQ Wednesday night and stocked up on tools and materials to build my casing for the project so hopefully I will have a majority of it done this weekend and finish it off monday when my sensor will be finished^^
Now I have my safety net of do something that does something I am trying to add to the functionality I am trying to figure out how to transpose the scale up and down with the use of two additional beams so I dont limit my musical range to just 12 notes.  

Smelling Emails?! November 17, 2006

Posted by bunnymedia in Uncategorized.
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I can’t believe what I found when browsing the net, there soon will be a device avaliable for £250 that will allow you to add scents to your emails :S

E-mail tries out a sense of smell
 

You could soon be able to spice up your e-mails with your favourite perfume.
UK net provider Telewest Broadband is testing a system to let people to send aromatic e-mails over the internet. It has developed a kind of hi-tech air freshener that plugs into a PC and sprays a smell linked to the message. Telewest say it could be used by supermarkets to tempt people with the smell of fresh bread or by holiday companies seeking to stir up images of sun-kissed beaches. “This could bring an extra whiff of realism to the internet,” said Chad Raube, director of internet services at Telewest Broadband. “We are always looking at ways to enhance the broadband internet experience of the future and this time we are sure consumers will come up smelling of roses.” Emotional response The technology behind the idea was originally developed by US company Trisenx. Scientists at Telewest’s labs in
Woking,
Surrey, have built on that research to come up with the idea of a “scent dome”.

The dome comes with a cartridge containing 20 basic aromas, which can be combined to produce up to 60 different smells. A “scented e-mail” would contain electronic signals that would tell the dome to release the smell of flowers, perfume or coffee. “Our sense of smell is directly connected to our emotions,” said anthropologist Kate Fox, director of the Social Issues Research Centre in
Oxford. “Smells trigger very powerful and deep-seated emotional responses, and this additional element to the internet will enhance users’ online experience by adding that crucial third dimension.” But the chance to sniff your e-mails not may come cheap. Telewest says its “scent dome” could cost around £250 and would only work with a high-speed, broadband connection.

   

Project Progress November 17, 2006

Posted by bunnymedia in Uncategorized.
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Area of Interest:
The evolution of my idea has led me to investigate ways in which we can experience emotional interation through technology via tactile devices.
There are several ways to produce tactile interaction the three easiest of these interations are touch, sound and vision. You might wonder how vision is a tactile interaction?! As light touches your eyes it is processed by the cells in your eyes sending messages via your optic nerves to your brain where the signal turns into imagery. The same is true for the ears, sound waves move the bones in your ears allowing you to hear sounds. But a sense that is very much neglected by technology is smell. Traditionally technology is with out scent.
I think this quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayre sums up my project idea quite well. (I had totally forgotten about it until I was thinking about sense and technologies ^^)
Giles: Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is…it has no texture, no context. It’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible. It should be, um, smelly.
I, Robot – You, Jane

Project Aim:
At this evolutionary stage of my project I see it as a device used along side visual or aural communication.
The easiest way of describing this is with an example:
Guy x & Girl Y are married but Guy X travels alot on business so they communicate through emails/texts/phone. When GuyX calls/texts Girl Y there is a despenser attached to the communication device which will release Guy X’s scent (aftershave) and vice versa when she calls him her perfume will be released by the despenser at his end.

Ideas of how I might achieve this:
Hacking time dispense air freshners and extracting the trigger mechanism then filling and combining it with a bluetooth arduino board. Though I am not totally sure the best thing to do yet, I am having electronic lesson for my sound module so i hope through that it will help me to realise the technology I will use.

Project November 12, 2006

Posted by bunnymedia in Dissertation & Project.
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I had my first project meeting on Thursday Mike liked my idea which was great. He advised me that I can achieve what I want without the use of complex robotics which is a relief he suggested i take a more subtle approach. This combined with what Martha said that all our senses can be considered tactile i think this extension of my idea will fulfil and achieve what I want to achieve.

The idea: Smell is a powerful stimulus to the human brain can trigger all kinds of emotions. My project is a device which might be activated via mobile technology (I am not totally sure yet) which dispense the fragrance that the person’s partner usually wears when it receives a message. I was thinking it could occur when the parnter texts the other one but before deciding  all the technical stuff and fencing myself in I want to discuss it with Mike during our meeting this Thursday.

It all becomes clear November 12, 2006

Posted by bunnymedia in Sound.
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I have finally thought of a way of achieving my idea. Unfortunately I had to abandion the para para idea to a degree but i still have been able to utalise the technique of using hand movements to make music. I want set up a series of 12 light gates which represent the tones and semi tones of the musical scale. I will then produce a backing track ( Jpop style most probably >.<) I hope to produce an instructional visual to go a long with it to show you what notes to play when kind of a kareoke toll but using your hands to make the music. The next thing to consider is trying to find light gate structures at a resonable price.. the ones I have found so far are £30 each !!! which means it’ll cost me £360 which I really dont have but i am sure there is a way arround it. I have electronic classes starting this week so I hope to get more of an insight of what is possible also I am going to get in touch with dan to see if he knows of alternatives.

Dissertation round 2 November 6, 2006

Posted by bunnymedia in Dissertation & Project.
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Had a meeting with Martha Thursday to talk through my dissertation. I seemed to have limited myself and drawn my argument so tightly in that it has become weak. So we looked back at what I was trying to achieve in the first place and trying to pin point the spark, which I am glad to say we found and i am back on track. I have tonnes of new leads to follow up. She said it was best for me to focus on my project as it is quite heavily linked to my dissertation which will help me to refocus my work.

So currently I am looking into the following people and pulications

  • Screen conciousness Cinema, mind & world (Robert Pepperell & Micheal Punt)
  • David E Nye
  • Matter & Memory 1896 Bergson
  • Time & memory Bergson
  • Patricia Pisters The matris of visual culture
  • Ed Tan
  • Pia Tikka
  • Art Electronica Christa Summerer
  • KIA
  • Etienne-Jules Marey
  • Martha Brown