Lina Maria Giraldo's Blog

With this piece I would like to explore immigrant children’s vision of their community, their family and their future. It’s very important to hear what children’s are thinking, questioning and expecting from life. They are the future and we need to teach them how to respect each other. They need to talk and be heard regarding their dreams and expectations. Children are more open-minded to understanding the errors of the adults. They a have a fresh mind in order to think about change. Children have another way of looking at the world. They are honest, playful and sometimes full of energy like a volcano while other times they are just quite as a rock.

United States is a country build by immigrants from all over the world. It is a country that represents freedom and opportunities. Unfortunately the immigrant’s conditions have been deteriorating. Prejudice between different races, religious and cultures are more notorious. In places like New Mexico the number of gang members has been increasing. The economic crisis doesn’t help and people are constantly loosing their jobs. This is why it’s so important to listen to what children are thinking.

The footage I’m collecting reflects their playfulness. Here, they are learning how to use cameras and new technologies, making mistakes, hiding from each other and always having fun. It was their opportunity to speak out, but also a moment to play and discover. Almost all of the children that I’ve been working with are sons and daughters of immigrants or live in a Hispanic majority community. In Santa Fe, New Mexico I worked with two middle Schools with 6 and 7 graders. In New York, I’m working with 4th graders from the after School program at Henry Street Settlement.

The most interesting part of the workshops is that they have the opportunity to use the cameras and perform interviews on each other. The most important lesson that I learned is that it doesn’t matter how difficult the environment is, children are usually very playful. In Santa Fe, they were talking about serious issues, but at the same time they were dancing, playing, running and yelling into the microphone.

The experience from the audience will be somewhat subtle. The screens will be off most of the time. When the spectator crosses in front of one of them, it will trigger it to start showing the videos. The LCDs will be placed on the walls in a random manner, creating curiosity. They will remain off if there is no movement in front of them. They will be on if people are walking in front. The sound is very soft so you have to get close in order to pay attention. The other option is have captions so you the audience needs to be close to the small 10” screen to read it.

The audience will either ignore the screens or get curios and come closer. This behavior is similar to the contrast of when the children’s opinions are ignored by their parents versus when they are in their playful moments. Since the spectator has to actually stop and stand in front of the screen, it is a soft way of forcing them to pay close attention to the messages. By generating curiosity and playfulness, I want to bring the spectator closer to the children.

I don’t remember when it could have been, but I remember my reaction when the toilet flushed automatically. It was like magic for me. I couldn’t believe I could turn things on or off around me just by moving.

In the modern world, mankind’s effort is minimal. The closer we are from a developed city, the less effort we have to put in. Part of the goal of my career an as an artist, is to create interactions with the audience. Trying to be subtle by creating a large interaction with the minimal effort of the receptor has been one of my biggest challenges. This is why I’m interested in working with sensors that trigger different actions. I created this interaction before based on the site; but now thanks to this class I had the opportunity to research more about sensors, screen and interaction with the audience base on their movement.

Movement sensors are all over the place: in pubic restrooms, security alarms, doors, control remote, etc.

The equipment that I’ll be using is a series of screen that would be triggered by IR proximity sensors based on the movement of the audience. The goal of the activity is to eliminate any switch or button and turn the screens on or off based on movement. The audience will be engaged with all their body and they will change the posture based on movement. The audience will focus their attention on the images of the screen. The most challenging or difficulty in this action will be how to trigger the so und and video without interfering or triggering the rest of the screens.

Bellow is my observation video

Bellow is the first idea of the project and some links for materials

We start working in our midterm idea we would like to create an interface for the computer. Our first idea it was to replace the keyboard in order to release the stress that we put in our wrist when we work in the computer. This piece was inspire by people who suffer of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Because we only have two weeks to complete this project we decide it to only imitate the mouse. Our final approach it was quite different that we thought. I will explain more soon. 

The good news is that the serial communication lab that we have to do for this week was very helpfull to test all the sensors and understand visually the movement of the cursor using processing. 

Bellow is step by step in our process. Ufff a lot hours of work 🙂

This is the photo documentation of the mat prototype:

 

 

 

This is all the 6 sensors working, 4 work as analogs and two digital. We look very happy

 
This is the documentation of the serial communication in processing 

As I say before we took another different approach. We ore going to hack a mouse. The rotary tracks of the mouse inside are going to be connected to a dc motor and they will move them from one direction. We are going to have two of them. Bellow is Gordie working on it and the best part is working

Bellow is the call an response hand shake method, Gordie and Emily are the stars of this video

I’m very exited about my next project with Emily and Gordie, bellow is our idea and research, enjoy:

Power Presentation:

Images Observation:

 

 

“We spent a lot of time in front of the computer and we only use our hands, which generates a lot health issues like carpal tunnel syndrome. Our idea with this is to create an interface that could help the interaction with the computer from another perspective. We could redesign the computer interface similar to piano pedals and some kind of mouse and switch that could replace many functions of the mouse.

Here, the action is clicking and typing on the keyboard mouse. The medium is the computer program and the changes will be the behavior of the computer. The goal of clicking and typing of the computer is to create, change, modify or delete information.

 

The physical parameters of this activity are limited to your hands and eyes. The person engaged will only use his hands and eyes, while his legs and arms basically do nothing. The posture almost doesn’t change, so this also generates problems in your back, neck, hips and some cases legs. While working on the computer your focus is mainly on the screen and keyboard. The activity is engaging because we have a constant overflow of information. The stress on your hands wrist and the fact you don’t move the body for a long time”

 

Code 1:

int analogPin = 0;

int analogValue = 0;

 

void setup()

{

  // start serial port at 9600 bps:

  Serial.begin(9600);

}

 

void loop()

{

  // read analog input, divide by 4 to make the range 0-255:

  analogValue = analogRead(analogPin); 

  analogValue = analogValue / 4;

  Serial.print(analogValue, BYTE);

  // pause for 10 milliseconds:

  delay(10);                 

}Code 2:

import processing.serial.*;

Serial myPort;        // The serial port

int graphXPos = 1;    // the horizontal position of the graph:  

 

void setup () {

  size(400, 300);        // window size

 

  // List all the available serial ports

  println(Serial.list());

 

  myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);

    background(113,86,86);

}

 

void draw () {

  // nothing happens in draw.  It all happens in SerialEvent()

}

 

void serialEvent (Serial myPort) {

  // get the byte:

  int inByte = myPort.read(); 

  // print it:

  println(inByte);

  // set the drawing color. Pick a pretty color:

  stroke(123,128,158);

  // draw the line:

  line(graphXPos, height, graphXPos, height – inByte);

  // at the edge of the screen, go back to the beginning:

  if (graphXPos >= width) {

    graphXPos = 0;

    // clear the screen:

    background(113,86,86);

  } 

  else {

    // increment the horizontal position for the next reading:

    graphXPos++;

  }

}

 

int potPin = 0;    // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to

int potValue = 0;   // value read from the pot

int Greenled = 9;    // PWM pin that the GreenLED is on.  n.b. PWM 0 is on digital pin 9

int Yellowled = 10;    // PWM pin that the YellowLED is on. 

int Redled = 11;    // PWM pin that the redLED is on.

 

void setup() {

// initialize serial communications at 9600 bps:

Serial.begin(9600);

pinMode(Greenled,OUTPUT);

pinMode(Yellowled,OUTPUT);

pinMode(Redled,OUTPUT);

}

 

void loop() {

potValue = analogRead(potPin); // read the pot value

Serial.println(potValue);

 

if(100 <= potValue && potValue < 441)

{

  digitalWrite(Greenled,HIGH);

  digitalWrite(Yellowled,LOW);

  digitalWrite(Redled,LOW);

}

else if(441 <= potValue && potValue < 782)

{

  digitalWrite(Greenled,HIGH);

  digitalWrite(Yellowled,HIGH);

  digitalWrite(Redled,LOW);

}

else if(potValue >= 782)

{

  digitalWrite(Greenled,HIGH);

  digitalWrite(Yellowled,HIGH);

  digitalWrite(Redled,HIGH);

}

else

{

  digitalWrite(Greenled,LOW);

  digitalWrite(Yellowled,LOW);

  digitalWrite(Redled,LOW);

}

 

/*

if (0 < potValue <341) {

analogWrite(Greenled, potValue/4);  // PWM the Green LED 

delay(10);                     // wait 10 milliseconds before the next loop

}

 if (201 <potValue <682) {

analogWrite(Yellowled, potValue/4);  // PWM the Yellow LED 

delay(10);  

 

 

}

if (401<potValue <1023) {

analogWrite(Redled, potValue/4);  // PWM the Yellow LED 

delay(10); 

}*/

}

 

 int potPin = 0;    // Analog input pin that the potentiometer is attached to

int potValue = 0;   // value read from the pot

int led = 9;    // PWM pin that the LED is on.  n.b. PWM 0 is on digital pin 9

 

void setup() {

  // initialize serial communications at 9600 bps:

  Serial.begin(9600); 

}

 

void loop() {

  potValue = analogRead(potPin); // read the pot value

  analogWrite(led, potValue/4);  // PWM the LED with the pot value (divided by 4 to fit in a byte)

  Serial.println(potValue);      // print the pot value back to the debugger pane

  delay(10);                     // wait 10 milliseconds before the next loop

}

Analog Input using a potentiometer from Lina Giraldo on Vimeo.

 

I worked with Gordie and Emily Ryan. We decided to go to a crowded bar and use the opportunity of the super bowl to do our observation assignment.

 

 

My first super bowl! Great ! It was at 6:30 pm and the name of the bar is Down The Hatch. I believe there were some 140 people between 21 through 40, mostly students. I actually never understood who was playing or whom I should cheer for.  

 

Anyway, we were expecting to see the bar packed but it was not the case.  We had to stand at the corner of the kitchen and lucky enough, this was the best view of the bar. This is why we stayed there. During this important event, people don’t stop communicating between each other. The food arrives at people’s tables. The customers are drinking and using their phones, some of them are talking, others are texting and some cameras here and there. The bartender smiling and working non stop receiving credit cards  and serving drinks. Always using technology to solve social interaction but off course the most important for society: joy and have fun.

Here is how we have to think about technology as a social tool that bridges humankind

 

Women mostly use cell phones, while men were focused on the game. They were texting mainly during the commercials. They used mainly smart phones, blackberries and iPhones. They also had digital cameras which they used to take pictures of each other drinking, having fun, posing, etc. 

 

In the back of the bar, they use a calculator to do the books at the end of the day. The credit card machine is next to the bartender to create easy access. This was the most used machine in the hole assignment, running almost non-stop.

 

And off course there are the  HD TVs in each corner of the bar the tables are arranged around them.

 

We are creative animals that could think. This is why we are always creating system of communication and social solutions to increase trade.

Final Frog Switch LEDs Physical Computing from Lina Giraldo on Vimeo. 

 

 

This is the video documentation of the Digital Input and Output (a switch and LED’s)

Switch with two LEDs inside of the frog from Lina Giraldo on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

 

Video Documentation Digital Input (a switch and Digital Output LED’s red and Yellow)

Week 1 Lab 1 from Lina Giraldo on Vimeo.

Code:

// declare variables:

int switchPin = 2;      //  digital input pin for a switch

int yellowLedPin = 3;   //  digital output pin for an LED

int redLedPin = 4;      //  digital output pin for an LED

int switchState = 0;    // the state of the switch

 

void setup() {

  pinMode(switchPin, INPUT);       // set the switch pin to be an input

  pinMode(yellowLedPin, OUTPUT);   // set the yellow LED pin to be an output

  pinMode(redLedPin, OUTPUT);      // set the red LED pin to be an output

}

 

void loop() {

  // read the switch input:

  switchState = digitalRead(switchPin);

 

  if (switchState == 1) {

    // if the switch is closed:

    digitalWrite(yellowLedPin, HIGH);    // turn on the yellow LED

    digitalWrite(redLedPin, LOW);       // turn off the red LED

  } 

  else {

    // if the switch is open:

    digitalWrite(yellowLedPin, LOW);   // turn off the yellow LED

    digitalWrite(redLedPin, HIGH);     // turn on the red LED

  }

}