Tag: Process

Prototypes 3: The Final Entry

Technical

For this set of prototypes, I looked further into how to hook up an Arduino to my typewriter. At first, I tried to set up a matrix assuming that one of the pins was for power and ground. Assuming this, I wrote out the matrix for the lettering as matric in Arduino. This wouldn’t work and I will likely move others to a four-pin output.

An additional note about this is that there are several keys – SHIFT, CAPS LOCK, and CODE – that need to be pressed in conjunction with another key in order to work.

This didn’t work as the keyboard was mostly mechanical and half of the pins were actually grounds. I switched over to using transistors. Given the number of transistors needed – at one per key, I looked into buying PCBs and how I would wire up the 30 transistors and pins needed. I ran into additional problems as the 1980’s typewriter’s ground was in the back of the machine and not built as a pin into the IC.

The code to run this was fairly easy. The one problem was testing how long the button should be pressed in order to only output one keystroke. I found the system works between 50 and 300 ms but 1s will fire multiple times and 10ms will not fire the key.

I started to learn EAGLE and other CAD software to create a keyboard that could be attached to an Arduino. this PCB would have

If I was to use a regular Arduino I could add an increased number of transistors and create a binary code to switch between various numbers. This would require more coding than is totally necessary.

Role

I also worked a bit on the role of the projects. Beyond just being an art installation, I thought some more about where it would sit and what sort of people would be near it. If I were to install it in a nearly silent gallery, the generator would not always have a large enough corpus to read from and would start to spit out very generic poems based on the starting corpus. Conversely, if I put the machine in too loud of a place, the ambient noise would be too distracting for the machine to run and complete sentences could not form in the corpus.

Thinking more about the statement of the machine, I looked into putting the project in an open mic night and having the poem create a meta-poem about the night. Alternatively, I could read the poem as my own at the end of the night and see if I could pass it off as the genuine proof of human emotion.

Prototypes

Most prototypes should answer a question: Is this feasible? Will people hate it? Does this project achieve its purpose? For these prototypes, there were three areas that needed to be prototyped: role, look/feel, and technical

I created some early musings about the project. I was trying to decide on the best method of using a typewriter as a printer and how best to write poems from streams of words.

Role

For my role prototype, I looked at art installations that interact with the viewers and created a short storyboard from those. The idea was that the typewriter would appear apart from the gallery until the viewers leave and notice that the typewriter has made a poem just for them.

Look/Feel

For the look feel prototype, I purchased a word processor and set it on my desk for a few days to decide if it was cool enough. I also looked at the Media Archaeology Lab for more refined typewriters such as the fully mechanical ones. I decided that the typewriter should ideally be connected to the computer housing in a permanent way.

Next, I sketched some tables-housings. The table design should ideally match the typewriter. If I am able to get a mechanical typewriter, the table should be a refined one but, if I can only get a word-processor, a plastic table is almost preferred.

Technical

For my technical implement, I did several iterations on the same algorithm of using Markov chain text and the nltk Python library. The algorithm would take in a string of text, the longer the better. I used the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and the full corpus of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

I first started with haikus as 5 -7 -5 to test out the syllable library. Next, I made basic sonnets of 14 lines with 10 syllables each in the style of Shakespeare. My last step was to add rhymeing in the form of ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG. I ran into some trouble because occasionally words don’t have rhymes, but in a further prototype or the final iteration this could be achieved through recursive programming and chaning the parameters each time. This would allow for less exact rhymes and for the program to rewrite lines that don’t fit into the sonnet.

https://github.com/akierson/capstone-prototype

What do prototypes prototype?

• Create prototype for audience
• Should show roles, implementation, look and feel

For my prototype, I would like to make a working prototype of converting a data stream into visual graphics. Specifically, I would like to work toward an Authenticity app and the fashion side of this. Though it is nebulous, I think by using sample data from Google trends and Twitter data I could compile the relative popularity of common brands such as Nike and Adidas by urban area.

By creating a focused data set and having set desired outcomes, I could work towards a more nebulous idea of assigning regional popular to various items using data scrapped from various websites. There will be the added challenge of having to backpropagate my data based on future sales releases and data from the aforementioned companies.

However, if scarpaing the data from Instagram, Twitter, and Google proves harder then expected (as they are tightening their APIs), I may also look into fake fashion writing by analyzing top fashion blogs and associated images and counterfeiting them. This coulld also be incorporated into taking pictures of viewers and spitting out a fashion/tablod piece on them.