tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87585363791040523622024-03-13T04:07:43.120-07:00ddg-ArtBlogDarwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-85237174509177585212010-12-29T21:54:00.000-08:002010-12-29T22:02:07.751-08:00Next up - DBG invitation-only edition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTM7q2t5WRCN0J5lqiMv-oxyebKUkRdomHkQN9ZnhBSiUpnjnM6XKk-PvSJ7ReOS5PG7-IqiFcfzKVzuU6J1oMmiDrusK1xtiNj3vvunCucoe-gvaoeHO_U_DjbJ4OpHxVH_UTwnqDLQY/s1600/DBG-flame.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTM7q2t5WRCN0J5lqiMv-oxyebKUkRdomHkQN9ZnhBSiUpnjnM6XKk-PvSJ7ReOS5PG7-IqiFcfzKVzuU6J1oMmiDrusK1xtiNj3vvunCucoe-gvaoeHO_U_DjbJ4OpHxVH_UTwnqDLQY/s320/DBG-flame.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556351596692549554" /></a><br />In order to finalize the Denver Botanical Gardens gig with 3rd Law, we have one last performance: an invitation-only presentation of a miniaturized version of the show that is for a small seated audience (rather than a standing crowd). This is actually going to reduce the amount of projection and computation required, which will be sort of a relief.<br /><br />Met with Jim and Katie for a while, and we came up with the alterations necessary to do this gig. Looks like a winner to me; a few changes to the content, and a few changes to the projection/computer systems. Hopefully, this will come together quickly.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-92193191199793120662010-12-09T22:35:00.000-08:002010-12-09T23:01:08.819-08:00DBG Artistic ChoicesSorry for the delay in posting - back and forth with some documentation, and I had to help get the Vizzie stuff shipped for Cycling '74. Now, back to the DBG discussion.<br /><br />One of the things that public artists constantly have to do is to balance their own perspectives with those of the viewing public. This is less significant when you have carte blanche on the project - but this seldom comes along unless you are already a name brand, or you are paying for the positioning of your work.<br /><br />In our case, we wanted to do some highly abstract work (particularly the pixel slide system of feedback), but also needed to properly nod to the work of the great Henry Moore - the artist whose work we were celebrating. How do you mix this weird combo?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBEtilMMfecDdQ62SkcTBjnL2OU14V8Qv4A5Qd8rUk9fq-z52qP3hBJ-tK55_qoZsxwISr7lL_mEjo0IK7RyF85Ac7PSm7WCA1YW6TQL4QKPUpEEwe4n8BQujdh3XPAXF4gwBx4CxetU/s1600/DBG-Cube1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBEtilMMfecDdQ62SkcTBjnL2OU14V8Qv4A5Qd8rUk9fq-z52qP3hBJ-tK55_qoZsxwISr7lL_mEjo0IK7RyF85Ac7PSm7WCA1YW6TQL4QKPUpEEwe4n8BQujdh3XPAXF4gwBx4CxetU/s400/DBG-Cube1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548942996302414850" /></a><br /><br />The first step was to map out the direction. We (Jim and Katie from the dance company and me) decided to start with very geometric and textural content, move to the totally abstract and flowing pixel slide, then move to large-form photos of the work at the "stage" end of the room. The movement from geometric to textural was mitigated by something suggested by Jim and Katie: using cubes with a more representational image on them. The differentiation between the large geometry and the small representation (in this case, of feet walking through the gardens) lent the whole thing an odd feeling that made the abstract feedback much more natural.<br /><br />The harder transition was from feedback flow to large-form pictures. What we ended up doing was a two-fold change. First, the image displays moved from all four corners to just the "front" two corners, essentially blacking out the back two displays. This caused all of the attention to move in the direction of the final dance movement. Secondly, we went from our feedback display to a flowing fall leave scene that used a new color palette. This signaled a transition in content - and in representationalism. Finally, we dissolved that into pixelated blocks while the main screen came up with the photos, with slow pans across the statuary, that signaled our nod to the Moore sculptures.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JT4I6meye_9YsnS76icx6NWYLDCD_izsqeYMjLCsRnHb1BLGoUxMA8Lz6Bwv7pCE7TBDVcxRnVFRoOS8zVJk05_tMa6_nOHIfenf5Qvr-g5g85gNfGtDK7nd4ine1KpCTT6Z6_OcC28/s1600/DBG-Cube2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-JT4I6meye_9YsnS76icx6NWYLDCD_izsqeYMjLCsRnHb1BLGoUxMA8Lz6Bwv7pCE7TBDVcxRnVFRoOS8zVJk05_tMa6_nOHIfenf5Qvr-g5g85gNfGtDK7nd4ine1KpCTT6Z6_OcC28/s400/DBG-Cube2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548943626956888994" /></a><br /><br />Hard to describe, but the effect was a multi-level change in color palette, representation, location and direction of focus, dance formation and sound. While any one of these might have seemed forced, the combination worked to maintain a focus on the dancers while fulfilling the need for "Big Media" displays.<br /><br />[ddg]<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Note: Thanks to Kevin Maloney, photographer extraordinaire, for the photos used in this blog posting. He did a great job documenting the performance and setup; I and others will be using more of his work to show off the performance. Needless to say, the docs on the production would be much poorer were he not involved.<br /><br />Wanna see more great photography? Check out his website at: <a href="http://kevinmoloney.com/">http://kevinmoloney.com/</a></span>Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-30088382592292623342010-11-11T22:04:00.000-08:002010-11-11T22:16:45.381-08:00DBG Project Feedback System<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjiJXsf1szHCBvm7hKfzVFOTfga1Un2DDjCuILOPblfX48MDFqsMaYQbDJ7rr9YOS-4bx-yhLXUCOftqeGLQ-3fzZvjUcBhC0UKQIKCeTLzCHR7E_PMqlmTQbwaPn_sHVtTLFNbOfvXc/s1600/dbga.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 385px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjiJXsf1szHCBvm7hKfzVFOTfga1Un2DDjCuILOPblfX48MDFqsMaYQbDJ7rr9YOS-4bx-yhLXUCOftqeGLQ-3fzZvjUcBhC0UKQIKCeTLzCHR7E_PMqlmTQbwaPn_sHVtTLFNbOfvXc/s400/dbga.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538541114253294946" /></a><br /><br />One of the visual highlights of the Botanical Gardens gig was the use of video feedback for a large section of the dance piece. However, unlike most feedback systems, ours had to have a slower flow than you can typically get, and had to be able to self-stimulate when a dancer entered the visual area.<br /><br />The system we came up with - which we dubbed "pixel glide" - was a combination of a few techniques that turned out to give good (if still somewhat uncontrollable) results. A camera fed the current image into a Jitter-based patch that provided some brightness, contrast and saturation adjustments (which I could perform from the central computer). From there, it went into a jit.slide object to slow things down a bit. The result was mixed (at about 75% to 25%) with a highly contrasted image of the sculpture's rough surface. This was then sent to the projector to complete the loop (since the camera was pointed at the projection surface).<br /><br />The sculpture-texture was dark enough that the areas unoccupied by dancers offered little in the way of feedback action - the jit.slide and the low-light saw to that. However, when a dancer entered the area and was illuminated by some of the highlights of the texture, the system would kick into speed and begin flaming, roiling and twisting. Some of the activity was based on the location of the camera (on a platform about 4' high, mounted on a tripod so it was about 8' in the air), the offset of that location from the projection location, and any zoom and panning that we did. Some of the panels flamed straight up, others twisted in an arc and others created filmstrip-like image feedback along the length of the projection area.<br /><br />It was a highlight, and people seems to love it. I'm sure I'll be using this one a lot more...<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-63292305318687806342010-11-09T18:42:00.000-08:002010-11-09T18:54:48.385-08:00DBG Project Network Topology<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRjqbF2SoNKhJyRWLRtDcRjQXUCEXoqTNlhFBRtI07E9M5aUmcksU8fkq1oU0yC_fXpejZwFRVPT0-EKZ52v_jeSQvlJHJASZzSQOfFfS2JvcZ2Vsw-6rRBE0tIS8iPVrLuTRDp4Bg1U/s1600/dbgc.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 371px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkRjqbF2SoNKhJyRWLRtDcRjQXUCEXoqTNlhFBRtI07E9M5aUmcksU8fkq1oU0yC_fXpejZwFRVPT0-EKZ52v_jeSQvlJHJASZzSQOfFfS2JvcZ2Vsw-6rRBE0tIS8iPVrLuTRDp4Bg1U/s400/dbgc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537746605265242258" /></a><br /><br />Above is a basic overview of the layout for the DBG/Moore performance. The projection system featured 9 projectors (four for the walls, four for the illuminated cubes, one for the main scene background), driven by 9 computers (4 G5's, 4 Intel Mac Minis and 1 Intel Laptop). A tenth computer, my personal laptop, was the central driver.<br /><br />Basically, this central control computer sent OSC messages to the other 9 computers which forced them to conform to scene changes. The videos were not hard sync'd, so there was no need to have a timing source. However, the central computer did send out "ping" messages, since otherwise we were finding that the network interfaces would fall asleep on the G5's and would stop responding after a while.<br /><br />We created our own network using a Netgear router not connected to anything. My only mistake: we named the network "DBGONLY", which apparently was too interesting for some hacker-types to withstand. All afternoon I was fighting with people hopping on the network and dumping my systems off. I finally locked down the network and everything was fine.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FPajyJhWkXuUAyAwTuOD9Q15JyWNLMQkBuU1Ybb2WqA6yrVi9iY7tswLIke7Rj-9m8zkn8Y9Fx0FfJpLiiZBAkShYzj-DQm2sz4bW_qhzCLWFcafSvLJqFRAvVbXju23O6yV4OZglgY/s1600/DBGd.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 279px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-FPajyJhWkXuUAyAwTuOD9Q15JyWNLMQkBuU1Ybb2WqA6yrVi9iY7tswLIke7Rj-9m8zkn8Y9Fx0FfJpLiiZBAkShYzj-DQm2sz4bW_qhzCLWFcafSvLJqFRAvVbXju23O6yV4OZglgY/s400/DBGd.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537748990203250098" /></a><br /><br />It felt pretty cool to sit along the side of the room and control this whole system from behind a podium. Felt like God - or at least like the Wizard of Oz.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-72604597010850213582010-10-21T16:15:00.000-07:002010-10-21T16:18:43.294-07:00Relax...The review (in class) of the networks seemed to go well. Tim had a lot to add to the discussions, including a significant amount of information on the Mayan water use model. Since that's the one that I'm going to be working on for the final project, some of the things that he talked about (instrumentation and music types, sacred water sources, current number related to the model) will help me make a more robust and interesting bit of art by the end.<br /><br />Ahhhh...<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-18375740086729607602010-10-18T22:57:00.001-07:002010-10-18T23:02:23.858-07:00More on self-presentation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-pXpqlsR-Lo3rq_zV2uzGHRtIMNzVuihNt9AersjzFXharpfmO8S0eR1WXr3-8_dqWHIDfnslRa85FQHjzN29PkjuIZe9ms9bnRe7os_QnewDW4IEbxGD1yrV95AdkBDc1XA6SJQNEM/s1600/circuitwork.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-pXpqlsR-Lo3rq_zV2uzGHRtIMNzVuihNt9AersjzFXharpfmO8S0eR1WXr3-8_dqWHIDfnslRa85FQHjzN29PkjuIZe9ms9bnRe7os_QnewDW4IEbxGD1yrV95AdkBDc1XA6SJQNEM/s320/circuitwork.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529632617005840994" /></a><br />Following on with the information received from the Self-presentation sketch...<br /><br />I realize that the sketch may not represent that much on the surface. However, it is at the heart of a project that I'm working on. Basically, I want to make an Arduino-based board that will be used as a melody-making device, then use a feedback system that will allow this system to input listener preference of phrases and alter its output to suit those preferences. The circuit board is almost done (see above), and the Arduino sketch is in process - it is basically split into three sections: generation of phrases, storage and sorting of phrases, and feedback loop based on user input.<br /><br />The phrase generation and storage will probably be rather simplistic, but it should allow me to test out a generative sequencing system that will be reactive to listener feedback - and thus give me in-performance change-ability without being totally tied to pre-built melodies.<br /><br />Sounds fun, eh?<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-17428992352406820392010-10-16T22:56:00.000-07:002010-10-16T23:01:02.438-07:00DBG visit signals change<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTZAgKxU88V3VS7C7foksKkVt4JvVlEHxwgksFvleESRc-yTz-njgy56ohZaLWukd9ywZYv_h4DJX4VFX2O8wrEegyJzfDJqT82OZpM7T_ZqRUZ_ptwedBwHNo8Sq5WDEJFaQB8D9iMs/s1600/FeedVideo.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 109px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTZAgKxU88V3VS7C7foksKkVt4JvVlEHxwgksFvleESRc-yTz-njgy56ohZaLWukd9ywZYv_h4DJX4VFX2O8wrEegyJzfDJqT82OZpM7T_ZqRUZ_ptwedBwHNo8Sq5WDEJFaQB8D9iMs/s200/FeedVideo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528890995228766450" /></a><br />Went over to the Denver Botanical Gardens today with a couple of projectors to test out the location. We had decided to back-project everything, but that took a great big fall when it turns out that the corners of the room have these enormous columns that eat a bunch of space we would have needed for proper project throw. Thus, we are back to projecting from the center of the floor. Luckily, there is a 4-foot riser that will hold us and the equipment, so we won't have to worry about interacting with the patrons(!).<br /><br />We've nailed down the content necessary for the various sections, so Andrew will start banging out video. I've got to come up with some sort of control system for the projection devices (10 of 'em!), so I'll be busy. Hopefully, I can get Cory to give me a hand.<br /><br />I'm hoping that I have section 1 done before mid-week. That will feel like maintaining a sane schedule.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-46930798776221564052010-10-16T22:49:00.000-07:002010-10-16T22:53:04.343-07:00The board work continues...... on the Arduino music board. This will be paired up with the "repression and self-presentation" sketch that I did as a proof-of-concept for user-determined improvisation (although probably not as my final project for the networks class), but is going to be an amazing thing nevertheless. I should get a chance to present my networks in class on Wednesday, and I'm going to see what people think about this being a useful direction to go.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-44765287298749449582010-10-13T16:13:00.000-07:002010-10-13T16:22:46.013-07:00Population Update!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzabNQ90gitj_IG2CdutseUF8_P3DohDQtdLSKrB2Ci0d4zFcG85_EZt3INm8xLb9WFRNTIgqkAIBnUaqN2omGJsldbdo8KJUEf4pZrBtSgR9HyUh-dYjd-xDjIn9XNeI9EBYEjGOKLQ0/s1600/MayanPop.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 284px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzabNQ90gitj_IG2CdutseUF8_P3DohDQtdLSKrB2Ci0d4zFcG85_EZt3INm8xLb9WFRNTIgqkAIBnUaqN2omGJsldbdo8KJUEf4pZrBtSgR9HyUh-dYjd-xDjIn9XNeI9EBYEjGOKLQ0/s320/MayanPop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527673129605655746" /></a><br /><br />Spent a little time this morning adding population support and feedback to the Mayan Water Storage system. It was cool because it produced a bunch of new variables for output - the population is a lagged mirror of storage amount, and the population stress level is a jittery cool output for something that might need to be more active.<br /><br />Now I feel like this system is generating a good combination of related-but-different values for the next level of abstraction.<br /><br />Side note: It wasn't until I inserted the population controls into the system that I realized some of my basic calculations were off by a factor of 10. I've mopped up the previous post, and changed the patch so it does what it is supposed to.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-72013513979302920132010-10-12T17:41:00.000-07:002010-10-12T20:41:38.864-07:00Noise effects on avian population and nesting success<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT0SNoKso6xfBmtL-bmHGLG4li2zVZyksfkIXF7rUpLXC6C3AH-fOO5FQRO4GTIQnQH8mzIPYcsOvW0Zii1GCajkbgoyFE89GnDPOT9_9AhVTw4iGR_VrAleKKhtckmKa-37FXQxZA6o/s1600/NoiseEffectOnBirds.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT0SNoKso6xfBmtL-bmHGLG4li2zVZyksfkIXF7rUpLXC6C3AH-fOO5FQRO4GTIQnQH8mzIPYcsOvW0Zii1GCajkbgoyFE89GnDPOT9_9AhVTw4iGR_VrAleKKhtckmKa-37FXQxZA6o/s320/NoiseEffectOnBirds.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527369568971142274" /></a><br /><br />I ran across an interesting little article in one of our local community magazines (the Highlander, Oct. 2010) describing the work of Clint Francis. He has performed some studies on the effects of industrial-type noise in avian nesting areas; his work was performed in Rattlesnake Canyon Wildlife Area in New Mexico, but is relevant because of the network issues that it reveals.<br /><br />Tracking back from the article (which is somewhat detail-free), I was able to come across the paper written by Francis and others about the study. It is available at <a href="http://www.clintonfrancis.com/Site/Home_files/francis_etal_09.pdf">this link</a>. This discusses the effects of natural gas wells (with noisy compressors) on the nesting habits, nesting success and avian diversity in the areas affected by the wells.<br /><br />While previous studies have suggested that bird populations were harmed by noisy environments, these had mostly been focused on high-traffic areas with insufficient control mechanisms to prove that the noise was the issue. By using gas wells in remote areas, Francis was able to isolate the wells as the fundamental issue. He also got assistance from the owner of the wells in turning off the compressors for tracking of the birds, but the interruptions were slight, and he used a significant number of controls to make sure the study was sound.<br /><br />Basically, the noise of the compressor was handled by some species of birds (especially those that were urban-adapted), allowing them to nest properly within the noise sphere of the compressor. However, the main predator of the area, the western scrub-jay, was unable to handle the sound of the device, and therefore never went within the noise range. This allowed the noise-accepting birds to nest without predation.<br /><br />Of course, there is a negative aspect to this: it privileges the birds that are adapted to noise, and puts undo stress on species that cannot coexist with the noise. These species are overly subjected to predation, and therefore species diversity is reduced.<br /><br />Interesting stuff. There is an obvious opportunity for sonification of something like this (maybe with location sensing arduinos or something). More on this to come, I'm sure...<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-2043442839091327452010-10-12T11:49:00.000-07:002010-10-19T21:31:42.780-07:00Caribbean Trade and Slave Routes, and Parasitic Privateering<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHzih1NlrIRNRNYhY-G4CA0EtrhsCFpJ3B0j-ijtH6_xidu3VlDqGnEl6wyn2ast5wb9PvYJkgkHMKpioG2_8dhSjt3J7xmbKqgwT3aT8nsLFSgI1gEkl6zYnYS3TVBuSFcZDdtUXR2vQ/s1600/SpanishTradeRoutes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHzih1NlrIRNRNYhY-G4CA0EtrhsCFpJ3B0j-ijtH6_xidu3VlDqGnEl6wyn2ast5wb9PvYJkgkHMKpioG2_8dhSjt3J7xmbKqgwT3aT8nsLFSgI1gEkl6zYnYS3TVBuSFcZDdtUXR2vQ/s320/SpanishTradeRoutes.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527260904719918178" /></a><br />In search of another broken/lost network...<br /><br />Spanish domination of the Caribbean and South American trade routes created a network of goods and human transfer, featuring finished goods and population transfer from Europe, and mined gold, silver and plunder from the Americas. In order to protect the ships transferring the goods (particularly the valuables sent back to Europe), the ships formed large convoys that sailed together.<br /><br />Other countries, with smaller outposts in the Caribbean, developed other trade mechanisms, but these were not as lucrative as the precious metals gained by the Spanish. A semi-formalized privateering system was developed by the English and Dutch (both violently anti-Catholic, providing an psuedo-moral foundation for the action); this allowed the smaller, agriculturally-focused outposts to share in the valuables taken from South America.<br /><br />Thus, we have a well-traveled network path presenting an accessible target to parasitic (and small-scale/low-cost) attack, providing a network for simulation. An interesting secondary angle is to look at the other import from Europe: disease. The disease brought from the Old World decimated the local indigenous populations, producing a shortage of workers for either agriculture or mining. This shortage was offset by the introduction of African slaves, largely managed by English, French and Dutch traders.<br /><br />Another case where it is easy to over-simplify the model, but this is an interesting case where a primary network is seen to create both secondary and predatory networks.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Added note: If you are wondering where this one came from: I had a long drive from Denver to Minneapolis to attend the Spark Festival. The only way to survive these trips is to rely on books-on-CD. I stopped at the B&N on the way out of town, looking for a book I'd be interested but hadn't yet read. Ran across Pirate Latitudes, the posthumous release from Michael Crichton. I'd always found his work a guilty pleasure, so I bought the unabridged version, then hit the road. Since I'd just gotten out of the networks class, my head was seeing everything as a potential network.<br /><br />Of course, the Pirate Caribbean seemed like one heck of a network, and I ended up sketching the basic idea on a napkin perched on the dashboard. Further reading pointed to the interrelation with the slave trade, and the deed was done. Of course, I have no idea of how this could possibly end up as more than a map/sketch...</span><br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-87634627404605016652010-10-11T23:58:00.001-07:002010-10-12T08:29:40.318-07:00Nano Network - Arbuscular Mycorrhiza<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqt097j0eZYq4886L8BgJow75ur8YM_Xdz-VMb9ns0Zz1e6SyiGPCjRKuCLXw8hhPAvvkcTOBCQHGdFew0aWSBaRCqkEnVT3As3VRwAltEOE4PGAJtop17xF1Wi1vuvEIcA54x5ZW0WAU/s1600/Arbuscular-Mycorrhiza.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqt097j0eZYq4886L8BgJow75ur8YM_Xdz-VMb9ns0Zz1e6SyiGPCjRKuCLXw8hhPAvvkcTOBCQHGdFew0aWSBaRCqkEnVT3As3VRwAltEOE4PGAJtop17xF1Wi1vuvEIcA54x5ZW0WAU/s200/Arbuscular-Mycorrhiza.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527050840847307250" /></a><br /><br />I needed to get in a "nano" network for Wednesday. What better way to do that then to use symbiotic fungi (Arbuscular Mycorrhiza) as a way to pointing out the networking process among plants and fungi.<br /><br />There are three stages of AM Fungi (AMF) development:<br /><br />Germination: Germination of the fungi spore requires the proper soil conditions, but this can be reduced or eliminated by excess phosphorus, and improved by detection of potential host exudates.<br /><br />Hyphal Growth: If no host is immediately found, the fungus will begin to expand in several ways. First, it creates hyphae to help extend the search. These hyphae "seek out" plant hosts. Likewise, needy hosts will send out chemical signals to be intercepted by these hyphae (chemotoxis).<br /><br />Symbiosis: When an AMF reaches a host plant, the host creates an infection system so the fungus has immediate access to the vascular system of the PC. The host plant then uses chemical signals to the AMF to prevent it from going "too far" during its integration into the plant's structure.<br /><br />The symbiotic exchange between the two lifeforms is mutually supportive.<br /><br />The plant gains:<br />- phosphorus (especially in phosphorus-poor soils)<br />- a lower pH in the rhyzosphere<br />- control of nearby bacteria<br />- improved soil conditions<br /><br />The Arbuscular Mycorrhiza gains:<br />- carbon, water and other nutrients<br />- host support for further reproduction<br /><br />This symbiotic relationship is very widespread, and provides support for plants in difficult soil circumstances. It also appears to be important for biodiversity, creating a secondary network of AMF support for inter-species eco-management.<br /><br />Simulation Possibilities<br /><br />The simulation option that jumps to mind is something that parallels the "seeking out" of the hyphae, looking for chemical signals, then following them to the host. The fact that there is cellular change when the AMF meets a host plant points to this being a connection of high value. There is also the population aspects, where germination doesn't occur well if there are no plants, and plants may grow poorly without an active AMF population.<br /><br />This needs further thought, but it appears to be useful for both a graphic simulation and a sonification opportunity. <br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-58097872703361295732010-10-10T22:21:00.000-07:002010-10-12T08:33:03.151-07:00Repression and Self-Presentation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjAN9NKzkGyTnhok3Bjo1-OgWg8fm2zmC2YCEsORqE5P17Umz9vfOO3GmXDXOWngrMF6IJPBawDsmAb4cO_gxUnjWbhNm1ORAarICgX5Xq8PsfjCPQykx6SqnACtNpjPRXLCQqzHGbyrU/s1600/RepressorFeedback.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjAN9NKzkGyTnhok3Bjo1-OgWg8fm2zmC2YCEsORqE5P17Umz9vfOO3GmXDXOWngrMF6IJPBawDsmAb4cO_gxUnjWbhNm1ORAarICgX5Xq8PsfjCPQykx6SqnACtNpjPRXLCQqzHGbyrU/s320/RepressorFeedback.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526655350433504002" /></a><br /><br />Sketch-only, based on:<br /><br />"Repression and Self-Presentation: When Audiences Interfere with Self-Deceptive Strategies." Baumeister, Roy F, Journal of personality and social psychology, May 1992 (Vol 62, Issue 5).<br /><br />I ran across this article in the Penrose Full Text search looking for something that might give me some insight into the neural processes of a stage artist receiving feedback from an audience. Instead, I ran across this article that discussed private vs. public image, self-presentation (the efforts one takes to appear to be as one would like to be seen) and repression (self-delusional misrepresentation of ones appearance).<br /><br />Of course, the psychological aspect of this depend on how much you are in self-denial, and the extent that you try to self-present as different from your actual self. Repressors, it turns out, expect positive feedback, are somewhat mystified by neutral feedback, but have a significant reaction to negative feedback; the negative assessments are retained at a high level in memory, and the subjects spend a significant amount of time viewing the negative feedback as they try to alter their self-presentation to match the desired outcome.<br /><br />Simulation Possibilities<br /><br />There is something very interesting here, and I might try to revisit it with the Arduino/music project, but it is a little too deep for an off-the-cuff software sketch. One way to consider this: in a "learning system" model, use feedback from the listener to change the storage and sort order of preferred phrases. Using the model described above, positive feedback could have modest effect, neutral feedback could produce more effect, but negative feedback would have the most effect - possibly even forcing the generation of new test phrases (simulating the change in self-presentation).<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-22302805520496452602010-10-08T01:04:00.000-07:002010-10-10T22:41:19.013-07:00Dutch Get All Reflexive<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m2e6L5FbBaHnV2ikbdpLn7kRu5FR2ZnAy7sCq-apJFaZ0DS8jzLyJZVK4FQWUAOEhVnrej27VDhviSN-sHyuD3XJ34YPZ6U8cKtMTdPhcdvyw3pSOTD7N2r7a-xvHfhFgEY9V_vVP9k/s1600/dutchmove.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 317px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4m2e6L5FbBaHnV2ikbdpLn7kRu5FR2ZnAy7sCq-apJFaZ0DS8jzLyJZVK4FQWUAOEhVnrej27VDhviSN-sHyuD3XJ34YPZ6U8cKtMTdPhcdvyw3pSOTD7N2r7a-xvHfhFgEY9V_vVP9k/s320/dutchmove.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525585392978367842" /></a><br /><br />I had an interesting discussion with my colleague Gregory today. I was telling him about my network-work, and told him that I was trying to find something about language to pull off. Since his wife is a Dutch language professor and Gregory has been digging deeply into that language, I thought he might have some insights.<br /><br />He began to tell a tale about reflexive verbs in the Dutch language, and some recent research that has been returned. Apparently, the Dutch language originally had no reflexive verbs (verbs where the subject and direct object are the same, like "I shave myself"). When it appeared, it swept through the country. Originally, it was thought this was due to the publication of the Dutch Bible, and the Dutch people's desire to speak with the patois of the rich.<br /><br />According to Prof. Jolanda Vanderwal Taylor (Dutch Language, University of Wisconsin - Madison), a recent dissertation by Jennifer Boyce-Hendriks determined that the introduction of reflexive verb was the introduction of German refugees from the south; they brought the concept of reflexivity with them. The Dutch people, for whatever reason, found it an attractive addition to the language, and it rapidly spread. This is backed up by journals, letters and legal documents that are stored in the official archives.<br /><br />Since this was a pre-media society, the spread had to occur through contact (face-to-face, people hearing the reflexive verb spoken) rather than through mediated means, and thus would have spread like a "wave" rather than a flash.<br /><br />I constructed a basic wave-like movement over a population space, then recorded Gregory using both a passive and reflexive phrase in Dutch. These two phrases are cross-faded as the wave washes over the population, eventually leading to only a reflexive voice remaining. I'm going to record a part of an interview tomorrow, and hope to include that with the sonification to create a cool audio piece that combines interview, disembodied Dutch phrases and perhaps some drone based coincident generators. This one turned out cool.<br /><br />Done in Max only because the sound capabilities of NetLogo were horrible, and I wanted the visuals that couldn't come out of something like Nodal.<br /><br />[ddg]<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Edits: Some additional material added. The reference dissertation is "Immigration and linguistic change: A socio-historical linguistic study of the effect of German and southern Dutch immigration on the development of the northern Dutch vernacular in 16th/17th century Holland" by Jennifer Boyce-Hendriks.</span>Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-14364654647759603162010-10-06T00:18:00.000-07:002010-10-12T13:52:06.255-07:00Rain-to-storage completed!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8kGbzutIhyl-8Ybs2Ip2bZ-lKVmxQ2hPRxJNpfKHBPof5qRyNTwgOOKwJK2g49EkRD0MHyK9dMzX-OZE2a5EsaIlg9hJQoFRfJ0GOun9Vhnw2HgqGs4RldxeygmNwRXazxkitu9Ej9G0/s1600/Simulacra.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 341px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8kGbzutIhyl-8Ybs2Ip2bZ-lKVmxQ2hPRxJNpfKHBPof5qRyNTwgOOKwJK2g49EkRD0MHyK9dMzX-OZE2a5EsaIlg9hJQoFRfJ0GOun9Vhnw2HgqGs4RldxeygmNwRXazxkitu9Ej9G0/s400/Simulacra.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524829568962299538" /></a><br /><br />I'm going to stop here, because adding population (with stressers, birth and death rates and other social issues) is beyond the scope of this exercise. But just watching it run is pretty telling - especially when you use some of the ranges implied by Peterson and Haug.<br /><br />It's pretty easy to see how extreme drought (.15 multiplier on typical annual rainfall) is devastating to even the most rain-heavy location, and even modest drought (.8 multiplier) makes things very difficult at the low end of the rainfall range. Interesting to watch - and I'll have to throw some population simulation at this some day.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Added note: Tim asked me to touch on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenotes">cenotes</a>, a feature of the northern Yucatin that allowed access to groundwater through sinkholes. These natural openings provided access to water, so that northern Mayans were not entirely dependent on captured rainwater. However, Classic Mayans in the southern regions were at a higher elevation, and these features were not available. The Peterson/Haug study seems to focus on the southern region - probably for simplicity - and my modeling follows the premises of that study.</span><br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-34280584515555418762010-10-05T22:44:00.001-07:002010-10-13T12:05:01.516-07:00More Details RevealedOn the plane to SF today, I spent a little time reviewing the information provided by the Peterson and Haug article. A few data points:<br /><br />- Rainfall varies based on location, from 500 mm/year (19.6 inches) to 4000 mm/year (157.5 inches). <br /><br />- 90% of the rainfall occurs between June and September.<br /><br />- City/states such as Tikal had water holding facilities able to support up to 10,000 people for 18 months.<br /><br />- The typical drought periodicity was around 200 years, but the time of focus (760-910 A.D.) had significant drought period approximately 50 years apart.<br /><br />- Again, based on location (and particularly in the northern regions), there was little surface water that could be used to support the population.<br /><br />- The lack of water could be considered an amplifying effect on other behaviors, and thus population stress was likely to be greatly increased during times of drought.<br /><br />Given this, and in order to simplify, I had to make some basic assumptions (and perform some initial calculations:<br /><br />- Assuming a daily water consumption of 1 gallon per day, having enough water for a population of 10,000 requires about 300,000 gallons per months, or 5,400,000 gallons of water for an 18 month period.<br /><br />- Evapotranspiration would have a significant effect on standing water supplies. Without further details, and assuming some attempt at mitigation, we'll assume that 10% of water supply would evaporate every month. This will be a variable that we can adjust if that assumption is proven invalid. (Some information on this retrieved from <a href="http://www.eoearth.org/article/Evapotranspiration">http://www.eoearth.org/article/Evapotranspiration</a>).<br /><br />- A cubic foot of storage will hold 7.48 gallons of water (found <a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_water_is_in_a_cubic_foot">here</a>). That means our 5400K gallon water storage would take roughly 721925 cubic feet - so we will start with an assumption of roughly 120000 square feet to a depth of 6 feet. This is important, because the size of the "opening" will also (probably) be the collection area.<br /><br />- One gallon of rain is collected in 231 cubic inches (1.6 s.f. of area to a depth of an inch). Hence, the rainfall collected in a 120000 s.f. collection area is roughly 75000 gallons per inch of rain.<br /><br />All of this is sort of conjecture, and needs to be modeled up. So I'm going to run off and do that now...<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-64623869962861523982010-10-04T21:11:00.000-07:002010-10-04T21:30:56.654-07:00Next Network: Mayan Water UsageIn class, Tim made a passing remark about (as I remember it) the use of water collection systems in Classic Mayan city/states. Since this civilization is both collapsed and well-researched, I thought it would make an interesting area for attempting a network sketch.<br /><br />In doing some surface digging, there seems to be a debate about the cause of the Mayan collapse; there are a significant number of people that consider drought to have been a major contributor. Thus, combining climatic change with water collection/storage and population statistics seem to be an interesting area for network investigation. At this point, my focus is going to be on information gathered from Peterson and Haug's "Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization" (<span style="font-style:italic;">American Scientist, Jul/Aug 2005</span>), retrieved from the Penrose online search and retrieval system.<br /><br />Obviously, this will have to be a grossly simplified network simulation. However, a few ideas come immediately to mind:<br /><br />- Climate simulation will be limited to monthly rainfall amounts (although combining this with temperature - and its effect on water use - is tempting). The min/max range will be user selectable.<br />- Seasonal variations will be sinewave-based, with a larger "multiyear" variant that will simulate extended drought periods and the ability (or lack thereof) of storage systems to compensate. The period length and percentage of effect will be user selectable.<br />- A variable number of storage systems, along with their storage volumes, will be user input. The amount contained is to act as a buffering agent against drought and seasonal variation.<br />- The population will have an initial value (in thousand, I'm guessing), along with a variable water usage per-person. This is the hard-line tool for storage depletion.<br />- Population growth and shrinkage will be based on available water, where birth and death rates will vary based on the availability of water.<br /><br />A super simplification of climate's effect on a population, but it may produce interesting results. I'm going to do this one in Max, because I think some of the variations will not only produce interesting artifacts (graphs, mostly), but these kinds of variation may provide results that could be used for sonification. Hopefully, I'll have something to post about the results tomorrow!<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-35403946765833435792010-10-03T18:29:00.001-07:002010-10-10T20:33:45.892-07:00The Alpha Dog<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPspKxCaAnzZ0fg6YXwKM4XQs6UiNR88HozVzQqSIWLbOiKdF6LiawIr2kY2jQiKJPXkQ1CvqE4ghp1YXHbgwNaLz9IXk3lZEY4plzHrvBK2DGClVKc0Yh90jR1VYIEarnNvNeHDZosQ/s1600/alpha-deff.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 359px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPspKxCaAnzZ0fg6YXwKM4XQs6UiNR88HozVzQqSIWLbOiKdF6LiawIr2kY2jQiKJPXkQ1CvqE4ghp1YXHbgwNaLz9IXk3lZEY4plzHrvBK2DGClVKc0Yh90jR1VYIEarnNvNeHDZosQ/s400/alpha-deff.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523996999066987506" /></a><br /><br />So I started work on sketching up some of my network ideas. I wanted to start with something simple - and something a little biological. So I decided to build a little "alpha dog effect" system in NetLogo. Took most of the day to learn the environment, but the results are pretty cool.<br /><br />There are only two user controls: number of followers, and the amount of alpha-deference. When alpha-deference (the deference to the alpha attack dog) is low, all of the "follower" dogs will head more-or-less straight for the goal. When the alpha-deference is high, the followers will run to the alpha, then follow it to the goal. Points in between exhibit interesting results, where the dogs may precede the alpha, but will slow down their advance until the alpha dog is closer - eventually allowing it to share in the first strike.<br /><br />NetLogo is a pretty neat environment, but the documentation is a little rough. Luckily, I know enough programming to be able to make sense of the NetLogo Dictionary (the real location for goodies), but I'm not sure how less adept programmers will fare when things have to be learned really, really quick.<br /><br />[ddg]<br /><br />Note: This was not a scientific study - rather, it was a test case for NetLogo using anecdotal concepts for "alpha dog" behavior.Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-91308833901272167502010-10-01T21:57:00.000-07:002010-10-03T18:59:44.964-07:00Epic Activities<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMGAOI3P99AA5l6a9QFwWeZRxH_NjLtZBVc_5PsqW42URyINqBRfip88B1Mbu1NBExxVilfw1hRVrGUxWPSjU2LBeRhkUoEsXqnxw9Dnk5KZ6ag2vNUUeW-tvNVfT6RyHntaM_ANY7HsQ/s1600/SparkPhoto.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 138px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMGAOI3P99AA5l6a9QFwWeZRxH_NjLtZBVc_5PsqW42URyINqBRfip88B1Mbu1NBExxVilfw1hRVrGUxWPSjU2LBeRhkUoEsXqnxw9Dnk5KZ6ag2vNUUeW-tvNVfT6RyHntaM_ANY7HsQ/s200/SparkPhoto.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523310051312672034" /></a><br />OK, so I'm sitting in a Ramada Inn in Kearney, NE - obviously it must be time to recount my Spark Experience for the week...<br /><br />As I mentioned on my <a href="http://darwingrosse.blogspot.com/">personal blog</a>, I needed to blitz up to Minneapolis in order to soundcheck and play a gig at the Spark Festival's Ambient Showcase on Thursday night, September 30. I ended up getting into MPLS at about 1pm, and was shuttled directly into the nearest sleep chamber by my friend and co-conspirator Gregory Taylor. I was able to get in a 3-hour nap before it was time to meet the rest of the band...<br /><br />First up was Mark Hendrickson, an old mate of Gregory's and the guy that was going to do our visuals. After a hardy discussion about Ben Frost, minimal techno and NATO, we descended into the streets for dinner. Ate, then grabbed the modulars and laptops and headed across the street to the gig-site at the LovePower church:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDhyTL9xq9X5DLZxZSlYb8SHYB0oBhMb2rgPbs83KUexuNhfptTJW4OPMj2G3ZwqPfLYDl0aXDqz9d1UzkPF5KxdxmIAUf2UZ6dMHBKKQ6QhuSC1rnkO7CxKqmLYX0-AGuR648Zjawlv8/s1600/LovePower.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 373px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDhyTL9xq9X5DLZxZSlYb8SHYB0oBhMb2rgPbs83KUexuNhfptTJW4OPMj2G3ZwqPfLYDl0aXDqz9d1UzkPF5KxdxmIAUf2UZ6dMHBKKQ6QhuSC1rnkO7CxKqmLYX0-AGuR648Zjawlv8/s400/LovePower.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523312270149105394" /></a><br /><br />Up two flight of stairs, we could do little but stash our stuff to the side while everything was getting arranged. Soon we were given the go-ahead, and setup began. Since I don't do any setup ahead of time, I spent time fiddling with some patching ideas while the others did their wiring. This is when the first epic bit took place: Tom Hamer, the table-top percussionist, plugged his mixer/pedal rig into a power strip, then saw an immediate flash of light as everything powered up - then powered down. It turns out that the person performing right before us had a Euro-rig of some sort, and a 220 Volt transformer was connected to that power supply. Immediate and complete burnout of Tom's rig.<br /><br />This gave us a harsh sour note to begin with, and we were all horrified for Tom's plight. In addition to doing some unique foot-controlled miking of his percussion, he was also going to be the central point for recording our set - meaning that this one was going to be "You Had To Be There".<br /><br />Once we were set up (with my beautiful modular blinking in the background), we needed to get out of the way for the first player (So/On) to set up and begin his set. The four of us (Gregory Taylor, Tom Hamer, Mark Hendrickson and me) went down to street level to hang out in the fresh air. After some smart talk and a couple of smokie treats, Tom and Mark wandered off to take care of whatever business they had. Gregory and I stood around talking when all of a sudden there was a BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM sound right across the street, matched with a spectacular fireworks of sparks.<br /><br />Except it wasn't fireworks. It was all of the pole-mounted electrical transformers for the neighborhood. There was a second BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM and lightshow, then the area (maybe eight blocks or so) was plunged into darkness. No electricity? Sort of a problem for an electronic arts festival...<br /><br />It was pretty clear that this was the end of the evening for us, so we wandered upstair (bathed in candlelight) to begin collecting our gear. While moaning about our luck, Ali Momeni stopped by and asked us how much power our rigs would use. We did some quickie calculations, then were floored by his next statement:<br /><br />"I've got a generator that I'm going to wire up. We'll drop a wire from the 2nd floor, and I can have you guys playing in 10 minutes. Sound OK?"<br /><br />OK? Are you kidding? So we helped get things settled while Ali, JP and the other staffers quickly got the generator going, hit the PA power then got our stuff lit up. After a short finish for So/On, we were up.<br /><br />Since we didn't want to overtax the generator, we were set up with candles for our stage lighting (along with Mark's projector throw). We were a little shaken by the whole thing, and I was worried that it might be a little, um, off. But with a candlelit modular rig, Gregory's laptop, Tom's percussion and Mark's single-projector visual rig, we jumped in to a total improv set.<br /><br />Tom started with a gentle rattle, while I came in with a low pitch-drifting moan. Gregory captured that and started warping it slightly while I jumped up an octave. All of a sudden, it became crystal clear: despite whatever schizo experiences we'd taken on leading into this, we were going to click, and to click hard.<br /><br />Nobody knows how long we were playing - it could have been 20 minutes, or it could have been an hour. I don't know. At various times, one or the other of us would burst out laughing, or fall back in awe of Mark's visuals. Mark and Tom started riffing with each other, Gregory rode the dynamic wave up and down throughout the set, and I was patching furiously to first match the feel of the others, then to lead them into new territory. All of a sudden, it was clear that it was time to stop. I dropped an LFO into a quantizer with a four-note scale, then faded in randomly to provide a gentle, tiny melody as Tom provided a simple ambient counterpoint. When we stopped, there was a moment of silence, then the crowd roared it approval.<br /><br />By then, the city had come to the rescue, lights were restored and all was good again. We spent over an hour talking to people that were curious about the gear, curious about the process and curious about "what was pre-recorded" (a common problem when things sound this good). After that, it was a retreat to a hidey-hole, where we recounted everything from our gig-euphoria to our favorite 80's tunes, then bed.<br /><br />This morning, I woke up with a glow. Gregory and I went out for breakfast, then wandered over to see some of the installations on display. The best, by far, was Mark Dave Hosale's work "An Uncommon Affair At Tooting Bee Common", a four screen non-linear film installation that was enhanced by a visit from the artist. I could have spent hours...<br /><br />Left at noon, here (in Kearney) at 9pm. Home tomorrow. Much work to be done, many kids to be seen...<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-18822450494524804872010-09-24T09:56:00.000-07:002010-09-24T10:01:26.550-07:00Fritz the Cat<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsDC6cXcQ08Ze3wn5xwW3abgudK3gTRjCB-4v8r9K3hzljy6zUHLEN1wJsdusyddgwm8A4fuPGwm8doESovLxMe2dMkubERS0fact7FPNwgGauHFVsFYyifv7Clwzf-ujwCLqzZWB48ks/s1600/fritzing.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsDC6cXcQ08Ze3wn5xwW3abgudK3gTRjCB-4v8r9K3hzljy6zUHLEN1wJsdusyddgwm8A4fuPGwm8doESovLxMe2dMkubERS0fact7FPNwgGauHFVsFYyifv7Clwzf-ujwCLqzZWB48ks/s320/fritzing.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520526158075445170" /></a><br />This is why I'm in the program, man. I started bitching about hardware creation in the "ancient networks" section of a class, and someone said "Oh, you should check out Fritzing". Never heard of it. Apparently, they are using the Romulan Cloaking Device to keep underground, and I was surprised there was something I hadn't already rejected.<br /><br />Got it, crashed it several times (it's in Alpha state right now) - but also got the board I wanted in the sizing I wanted. Its parts list is limited, but they are doing the right thing w/r/t limiting the wholesale creation of bogus parts; you can use generic parts easily, and the labeling allows you to make sense of them in the schematic and PCB views.<br /><br />This is going to be THE KILLER TEACHING TOOL for hardware-focused media tools; I'm going to dive into this whole-heartedly, because it radiated "The Future".<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-16426668435374009392010-09-20T23:56:00.000-07:002010-09-21T00:02:04.438-07:00Notes to self...... about proposed network plans:<br /><br />- The military thing I've been talking about.<br />- The musician thing I've mentioned, although it might have to be an older style of music to meet the "collapsed network" requirement.<br />- The network of word/vocabulary usage, origin and spread.<br />- Nefarious hackers to newly presented servers (using a bee-like algorithm).<br /><br />That's four. More to come I'm sure. In all of the reading, it is the bee activity that resonates most clearly with me - perhaps it is that I see more bee-like behavior than any other, or maybe it is my history with bees (a long story to possibly be related later...).<br /><br />In any case, some of this is starting to formulate in my pointy brain. I'm not sure how some of the Cell Designer-like software is going to help my in my quest, but I'll keep on sniffing the area.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-66486702941012944472010-09-20T23:52:00.000-07:002010-09-20T23:56:34.797-07:00Making Military-time Progress<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU6K2qHiwtGDjU6aGotK8YQzijJ4pCPJVRLxp5-skujkvCHpLvvwvxx9El3_QVisR34tL6UtwTczWRSSB1iTFNsDvWkbwHanS5B2UsLiGIGPdqfdLQ-LCR7qyolInR1XM6s1YccyTW4xQ/s1600/Photo+on+2010-09-21+at+00.51.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU6K2qHiwtGDjU6aGotK8YQzijJ4pCPJVRLxp5-skujkvCHpLvvwvxx9El3_QVisR34tL6UtwTczWRSSB1iTFNsDvWkbwHanS5B2UsLiGIGPdqfdLQ-LCR7qyolInR1XM6s1YccyTW4xQ/s320/Photo+on+2010-09-21+at+00.51.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519257109947733810" /></a><br />Sketched out, on paper, the basics of the military piece. Basically, I'm going to try using some basic algorithms to simulate a tank battalion that goes after goals set by a "military leadership". When the goal is reached (or not), the results are transmitted to a general populous through a news-reel style communique, complete with Great Big Arrows showing progress and movement.<br /><br />I was drawing this up during a class when a friend said "Hey, are you planning an invasion of Normandy or something?" That's when I knew that the overall graphics were appropriate.<br /><br />Now, the questions is whether I do this in Netlogo, Processing - or something a little more heavy-duty...<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-27568413851687594612010-09-18T23:31:00.001-07:002010-09-18T23:42:13.795-07:00Netlogo warfare<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaex9MYh2y4PlRsvZKAsdm5l9r3Dvr__ZRfgGR_MkNBh3Z9G6W9HyhqohGjfLMmSguDG8Rbs6M53JEXIjIDXf79KE3e48bmCENAVD3BAnr1cR7XOQRrC08EQVsmOJUE90Fx8Jcc4UW91c/s1600/Blitz.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaex9MYh2y4PlRsvZKAsdm5l9r3Dvr__ZRfgGR_MkNBh3Z9G6W9HyhqohGjfLMmSguDG8Rbs6M53JEXIjIDXf79KE3e48bmCENAVD3BAnr1cR7XOQRrC08EQVsmOJUE90Fx8Jcc4UW91c/s320/Blitz.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518509085805454450" /></a><br />So, I spent a little time this evening with Netlogo - mostly getting to know 'er, and trying to decide if I was going to buy into 'er. At this point, it seems like a viable tool to use for my Military Reversal Of Misuse (using Military Tactics to create art). To reiterate, the idea is to use a networked Military maneuver to create art, as opposed to the military using artistic concepts to creating maneuvers.<br /><br />I can already hear you say "Whatever"...<br /><br />Maybe this will be more interesting: I plan to use a basic flocking algorithm (probably using <a href="http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/">this Netlogo package</a>), but with image alterations that should provide for interesting artistic results.<br /><br />First steps first, though. I need to do a little more research into the Blitzkrieg movement, and also try to establish some sort of idea of networked communications between participants. My suspicion is that, unlike the current army, there was relatively little direct communications between tank drivers; instead, they had to depend on visuals and proper spacing to prevent constant crashes and mayhem. I also suspect that, in and effort to maintain maximum forward motion, they avoided anything that was too troublesome and took the easy road to the end location.<br /><br />This is all useful information for working with a simulation.<br /><br />I have started fishing around about the military history of the thing. It turns out that Wikipedia is more complete than most of the crap on the net. It's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzkrieg">section on the Blitzkrieg</a> contains both historical information and strategic validity (which it turns out is mostly negative), and gives a pretty full view of the concept - along with a lot of links for more info. This is one of those cases where Wikipedia is a robust fount of knowledge.<br /><br />Hopefully tomorrow I'll make my first Netlogo sketch that will get me on my way.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-63783833488056535132010-09-18T07:50:00.000-07:002010-09-21T00:02:33.929-07:00Here, let me show you the gate...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6B_JniiMU2f51tgFMaEUR-pysiDWLCPU49gnIR8y50cqAbk2T3ft36XXNGoONEdeXAlgPfWCI1dzZwRwDBrV-WKiLlLPCCoAHmV-avv3w603d10keKBud0nikD17Wwxlo5I7adWYlIYI/s1600/ProjectMuse.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 109px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6B_JniiMU2f51tgFMaEUR-pysiDWLCPU49gnIR8y50cqAbk2T3ft36XXNGoONEdeXAlgPfWCI1dzZwRwDBrV-WKiLlLPCCoAHmV-avv3w603d10keKBud0nikD17Wwxlo5I7adWYlIYI/s320/ProjectMuse.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518267402366887570" /></a><br />Reading that I'm approaching today includes "What is Biomedia" by Eugene Thacker. Looks like it lives a rich and fulfilling life behind the curtains of Project Muse at John Hopkins. Apparently, learning about what Biomedia is need to be restricted to a list of university sponsors that is about 40 strong; anyone else trying to access the information is surely either too stupid or too broke (i.e., $20 for a copy of the PDF) to bother with.<br /><br />Project Muse: "Today's research, tomorrow's inspiration". Try adding "yesterday's monetization" to complete the thought.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8758536379104052362.post-14485021029475758782010-09-16T22:28:00.000-07:002010-09-16T22:36:52.964-07:00FutureNetworkHardware<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3NbIpqBlkAhAnY8qYX0zIIYgh9_f5LSk4a8x3ambHIOjxXpQg4N8wzAC4tlM4gCsDlpADlDBjj5x9svTUDM8aZ8nNOHkMwnHs5PI-2F_gFxX6MGTE1zf86aayWDqbWz8zA2i8y7cWps/s1600/tweedler.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp3NbIpqBlkAhAnY8qYX0zIIYgh9_f5LSk4a8x3ambHIOjxXpQg4N8wzAC4tlM4gCsDlpADlDBjj5x9svTUDM8aZ8nNOHkMwnHs5PI-2F_gFxX6MGTE1zf86aayWDqbWz8zA2i8y7cWps/s320/tweedler.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517752132572414098" /></a><br />In addition to the blitzkrieg described below, I'm also working on a piece of hardware that didn't have a reason to exist prior to yesterday. This is a little bit of a mess right now, but I was able to have a little proof-of-concept party this evening, and it does its thing.<br /><br />What is its thing? Well, it's a generalized audio generator that produces voltages useful for analog hardware synthesizers. What that means to me is that I can create (or gather from sensors) information that produces voltage output that could actually be called music.<br /><br />My goal for this is to create an example network that will attempt to duplicate some (very) small portion of the decision making that goes on in the head of a jazz instrumentalist and produce it using any voltage-controlled synth. Will it be great? Possibly not, but it will be interesting, and it will be the first thing I've ever done that doesn't have to be tethered to a computer.<br /><br />But this was a slug-fest for me. Thanks to Grant Richter for his help with Real World (vs. theoretical book-learned) electronics.<br /><br />[ddg]Darwin Grossehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05408409920874351629noreply@blogger.com0