FINAL PAGES

Final tweaks to the concept

Finally, have almost finished my digital portfolio.

I've managed to capture a walkthrough using Wegame - I had to do this at uni as our home broadband speed is pretty poor at the moment (faulty cable under the road, up past our driveway...what can you do?). Here it is:

I don't want my portfolio to be too wordy - I would prefer the images and diagrams did most of the explaining.

The threads running through all my projects are reflection, opacity, reflection, atmosphere....

I noticed that with each subsequent project, the scope of impact increased.

That is:

1. Trashcan - designed for me, individual use

2. Threshold - designed for a subset of users of the 421 building (users of the second floor studio)

3. Inhabit I - designed for people in a crowd on the OGB atrium steps - though it would indirectly impact all the users of the atrium space while the cloud is dispersing

4. Inhabit II - designed for all people entering & exiting OGB

Struggling with scripts & building again...

Progress....have spent all morning trying to manipulate my door pull with a script to start when it's touched...once again things often don't work until you delete then restart or tweak and resave.
I've also finally figured out how to add a script to open the door without stuffing up the particle cloud script.
Living in the middle of nowhere with faulty cables under the road doesn't do much for our broadband speed so there is only a limited amount of work I can do on Second Life now.

Idea is that digital data about yourself is displayed as a 'cloud' when you touch the door pull - you're 'logging on' to the building...

I wish I'd found this last time - useful place for building questions: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:Building_Objects

Digital vs Physical Clouds

Concept = activating the doors into/out of the OG building by having to use a door handle, this action means you 'log on' to the building. Other people in your group or that are in your set of friends will know you are there.

• You inhabit the building, you wear the building when you enter, you attire yourself in it
• You leave traces of yourself on the door handle

Physical World = physical traces = skin cells, hair, sweat, finger prints, DNA. In the physical world, most of the dust in eg. your house is actually a cloud of your skin cells, your DNA, your physical trace...

Second Life = digital traces = tags such as your user name, your avatar image, your group permissions, your ownership details etc In Second Life, a cloud of digital data is associated with your presence there which contains your digital trace...

Digital clouds of tags (like a colony or ecosystem)

How to do this:

• create a particle cloud which is generated when an avatar touches the door handle and opens the door
• label the door (push, pull)
• textures for the particles will be snapshots of avatars, peices of code, text, usernames, permission groups

Reference
(p196-) Richard Coyne, The Tuning of Place. Sociable Spaces and Pervasive Digital Media. MIT Press: USA. 2010

Inhabit II - Data vs.DNA

Cloud idea from previous project doesn't seem so interesting in Second Life so am revisting ideas from the Threshold idea of' 'traces of where I've been, where I'm going'...

Friday session points:
- Extension of previous ideas.
- Think of the building as a whole not just a small part of it.
- Occupancy - how does this change the place? how does a person's activity within the space change the space? In particular, what about all the people who are not in transit (ie. work in the offices?) how does a place change the people going through it?
- Leaving a trace (physical/digital)
- Inspiring creativity.... an idea is the result of a cummulation of different thoughts/a network, rather than a 'eureka' moment

Trace Evidence
Physical = fingerprints, DNA (cells, hair), fibres
Forensic photography = forensic imaging, crime scene photography = the art of producing an accurate reproduction of a crime scene or an accident scene. It is part of the process of evidence collecting.
Digital = anything left behind, the history, from digital media

See this blog - pretty interesting: http://000fff.org/the-ghost-protocol-digital-identity-for-immortals/

"Our very existence leaves traces of our former selves, both in our own memory and, perhaps as important, in the minds and memories of others. These traces create the possibility of identification. All relationships are established through shared history. It’s this shared history (the traces) that builds relationships. "

• Physical versus digital ecosystems - free flow and exchange of energy versus data

• The traces we leave behind are like the ghosts of our previous selves...

Placing your hand on a door knob to open the door leaves behind traces of yourself. Since you're in SecondLife, a digital ecosystem, you leave behind digital traces of yourself instead of physical traces.

That is, data rather than DNA...

Leaving behind a wisp of yourself, a cloud, mist as you walk through the door, wisp of smoke/fog/mist is a cloud made up of tiny digital traces of yourself. It eventually disperses but may slow down the person coming in behind you.????

Inhabit I - final presentation & critiques

Final design concept - artificial cloud

Basic idea: creation of an artificial cloud within the atrium space, initiated at the main staircase area plus introduction of more light coming in from above (similar to crepsular rays).

NB. fog = cloud (just at different heights)

Rationale (1): this is a very sterile, hard, grey area. It has similarities with a deep ravine or cave in that it's a large vertical space on an almost 'geological' scale. However, in ravines and caves the light and air have different qualities - the air usually smells different: moist, ozone smell, plant smells; the light is often concentrated at the top. Creating a cloud with more light coming in from above brings some of this atmosphere inside and softens the space.

Rationale (2): change something within the space triggered by people inhabiting the space. Disrupt normal behaviour.
Walking through a cloud (fog) disrupts movement, sound and light. When a large crowd of people is moving on the stairs they move as a large mass and people behave more or less in similar ways. However, if you encounter some thick fog you revert again to an individual; you feel more isolated/insulated.

Mass becomes individuals.

An artificial cloud is created within the atrium area, concentrated around the main steps going down when:

when a large crowd of students starts to accumulate on the step area (> 50 people at any one time)

this will occur when people are entering the step area from either end

Implementation details:

• using RFID cards being carried (therefore anyone not carrying a card will not be detected or used as a trigger)
• sensors to detect these cards within a certain distance (to be detailed) will be installed in 4 places: at each side of the top of the main step area and also at each side of the bottom of the step area
• once the condition above is fulfilled, the cloud will be created in a similar way to common fog machines. However, to avoid potential irritants only pure water with no additives will be used (fog machines commonly use additives).http://vimeo.com/13648736


• adding water drops into a layer of air saturated with water vapor will result in a 'cloud'. In order to keep this cloud layer floating you need a dry cool layer with a higher density below and a dry hot layer with a lower density above. The high- and low-density layers prevent the cloud layer from moving up or down. However, movement will disperse the cloud, drawing it up/down depending on the movement and where it is.
• the water for the cloud creation will be from recycled air conditioning system water and/or rain collection (currently rain water is collected and used in the toilets of the building)

Stratification is created by an air-to-air heat pump, extracting heat from the space below the cloud and supplying the heat into the space above the cloud, both by low flow air return systems without mixing the thermal layers. A second air handling unit with a humidifier and heater keeps the cloud in the requested temperature and humidity level. To operate the cloud only electricity and a bit of water will be demanded. Shutting off the systems will lead to a disappearance of the cloud in a time frame of around 15 minutes. To reduce the heat losses of the warm top layer into the roof space, a transparent foil could be installed around or in the background of the roof space.