Website Design Liskeard

A notable rising net artists has to be Aaron Koblin with projects such as “The Sheep Market” and most inspiring to my field of research House of Card’s Music video, interactive data viewer, and source code - http://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/rh/index.html. “With Director James Frost (Zoo) and a bunch of other great people, lasers and sensors were used to create a 3D data “music video” for the band Radiohead.
The project was launched as an Open Source project on Google Code. An interactive online viewer (created with Aaron Meyers) allows for interactive 3D investigation of the data online”. By visiting the website you can explore the radio head video in a 3d environment. The video below gives a great explanation to how the video was created and its purpose.

BBC data visualisations:

I began thinking about the data obtained from the Portland Square building (in Plymouth University) using the Arch-OS system, could this data represent the DNA of the building. The system/data almost acts as a way of recording the buildings make up, its activity and a way of seeing how the building works.

I pondered on the idea of representing this DNA as audio. Whilst crawling the Internet i discovered a brilliant piece of software that converts DNA structures into midi sequences. Bio2MIDI by Algorithmic Arts.

I firstly began by fetching a set of results from the Arch-OS feeds page and returned the following results:

0 19.95 0 31.6 0 33.9 202.48 -245.08 -213.96 -269 229.64 111.14 2 156.14 42.59 19.7 58.29 23.13 56 21.95 64.25 12.52 2.82 20.25 21.05 16.89 20.48 21.25 22.12 19.88 21.03 21.39 18.73 0 4.09 17.59 71.61 4.17 243.64

Obviously this didn’t resemble any DNA structure at the moment it is a group of data sets which have no relevance to a DNA structure. For this to work i would need to construct an algorithm of defining a 10 character structure for example “ASDVVDFDDP”.

To encode the new DNA structure i formulated an algorithm which would replace numbers and characters with letters.

Before you notice it i have left out 14.

• 0 = A
• 1 = B
• 2 = C
• 3 = D
• 4 = E
• 5 = F
• 6 = G
• 7 = H
• 8 = I
• 9 = J
• 10 = K
• 11 = L
• 12 = N
• 13 = O
• 15 = Q
• 16 = R
• 17 = S
• 18 = T
• 19 = U
• 20 = V
• 21 = W
• 22 = X
• 23 = Y
• 24 = Z
• . = P
• - = M

Using this structure the original data set produced these results:

aupjfabpg addpqvcpej imcefpaimx dpjgmcgjxj pgelbpbecq gpqecpfjup ffipcjypof gwpjfgepcf npfccpicvp cfwpafrpij vpeiwpcfxp pnupiiwpad wpdjtphdae pajspfjhbp gbepszdpge

After putting it into the Bio2Midi converter the following file was created.

Click here to listen to the Arch-OS-DNA-Midi

Thinking again about the project i’ve decided to do some further thoughts about how an immersive experience can change the way we perceive data. Visualisations are of course representations of data sets within a digital environment, visualised by graphics and sometimes sounds. Can the shift in the environment that a user receives these visualisations change the way we feel about data. By placing the user within an immersive environment can we change the level of immersivness and cause the user to feel much closer to reality? If this is the case are we enabling a new dimension. And as I’m planning on using the universities immersive Vision Theatre (the dome), what is it that makes the dome different from any other visual environment?

Combining Visualisations and the immersive Environment hopefully the project will end up as an immersive Visualisation ………………….

A nice example of “real time” immersive video:

My initial ideas for my 4d project revolved around the slit scan photography technique. I decided to focus my attention to understanding the technique and seeing its true potential. Using Adobe After Effects i experimented with a number of effects, below i have uploaded an short exaple of sound powered slit scaning. Using sound we push the video into the future and back again.

(Original video click here)

Its obvious that the effect has much potential, offering numerous visual effects to which the everyday TV viewer does not get to see. Looking at previous projects and installations got me thinking to what the concept of Slit scan actually is. Quite simply we are capturing time over a period of time. With a still image we are collating a number of periods in time and re-collating them to form one representation of an event/past time.

With this in mind i began to ponder on the idea of representation and transformation.
I started off thinking visually for this project but really its the idea that counts, the concept is the base of the project so making it fit tightly to the brief is a must.

Data is something that we take for granted, no matter what we do nearly everything in our life is digitalised, from navigation to the way we purchase goods. Our movement is also one of these things that is digitalised. With most cities and towns harbouring numerous surveillance cameras we are constantly being monitored, but this data is often discarded, and never again seen. This survalance footage would be an ideal source to study transformation. Transformation of a space, behaviour and even atmosphere.

Using the Arch Os system installed in the Portland Square building of Plymouth (where better to get data from) i am considering representing the data of movement or activity within the building, the data that i will used is yet to be decided. Using the slit scan concept i will use the data from segments or slices of time, and of course reassemble into a representation of time its self on a space. I suppose this could be seen as slightly dadist as we are using ‘found’ objects but conceptualising them within a digital domain.

I’ve spent most of the morning researching into After Effects, playing with techniques and methods for realising my project.

I’m considering representing space and time through visualisations and below is one of my proposed ideas. It will use data and sound from a location over the period of a day, following my initial slit-scan idea.

More advanced version

This version uses sound to animate not only the saturation but the ammount of particles being generated.

Making it look nice!

Well i’ve spent another hour or so re-tweaking what i first started with. Below is a much improved version.

So for the past couple of weeks i have been heavily investing my time into the research of privacy, or rather the lack of within cyberspace. After reading countless articles and numerous chapters in published material i have become to gain a better understanding and view regarding our privacy online.

Part of my research has included looking at what people have done to try and combat this problem.
My main interest is to look at the effect that google has on the web and our personal data so i have been mainly looking at google based applications/artworks tackling the difficult subject of privacy.

Scroogle! Scroogle.org
Scroogle is a secure method for searching online protecting your privacy. By using its service it stops Google from leaving cookies, tracing your ip, and leaves google with no idea who has sent the search queries, enabling any user to stay anonymous.

Google: I want your soul
A short film/animation revealing information about Google.

TrackmeNot http://www.mrl.nyu.edu/~dhowe/trackmenot/
“TrackMeNot is a lightweight browser extension that helps protect web searchers from surveillance and data-profiling by search engines. It does so not by means of concealment or encryption (i.e. covering one’s tracks), but instead, paradoxically, by the opposite strategy: noise and obfuscation. With TrackMeNot, actual web searches, lost in a cloud of false leads, are essentially hidden in plain view. User-installed TrackMeNot works with the Firefox Browser and popular search engines (AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN) and requires no 3rd-party servers or services.”

My Google Search History - Launch site
“My Google Search History is a set of movies, sounds and text inventory with all my search requests done since 2006 on Google search engine.
Displayed as an inventory, my searchs show a full selfportrait.
Like a big souvenir movie, this video can refresh the small things i was looking for at specific moments.”

The Search Wall http://www.thesearchwall.net
“The Search Wall is a collaborative tele-interactive art work reflecting what people are searching for on the Internet. Privacy issues almost daily make news and are a large concern for many of the Internet’s users. However, through daily usage of search engines we nevertheless willingly gradually disclose it.”

FACELESS http://www.ambienttv.net/content/?q=faceless
“Wanting to tell a story, you choose video as the appropriate medium. You look for locations, only to discover that every place has already been filmed and featured. The question arises: why shoot more footage in places which have permanent cameras monitoring every corner, recording every move 24 hours a day? Rather than bringing in more cameras, why not use the  existing recordings that capture London’s daily life from every angle?” more

TheBigPlot http://www.thebigplot.net
Coming Soon

Carnivore http://r-s-g.org/carnivore/
“Carnivore is a surveillance tool for data networks. At the heart of the project is CarnivorePE, a software application that listens to all Internet traffic (email, web surfing, etc.) on a specific local network. Next, CarnivorePE serves this data stream to interfaces called “clients.” These clients are designed to animate, diagnose, or interpret the network traffic in various ways. Use CarnivorePE to run Carnivore clients from your own desktop, or use it to make your own clients.”

The Surveillance Camera Players http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html

A recent video i came across wen researching googles data logging.
This was shot in building 41 in Googles headquaters.

Original Site Link

Well since last Friday and this week it has been a fairly hardcore when it comes to action scripting, if only i could write essays this well! I have finaly completed a near complete game ready to show Nigel. The make of the game is “Beesteroids”. The game is a single player shoot-em up in a modern touch up of the classic Asteroids game.

If you fancy a go drop me an email and i’ll happily give you the link to have a play.

The Intro Screen:

Instructions Screens:

Game Play:

The scoreboard:

Thanks to Tom Wotton for being honest (hes the one who ruined my screen grab by claiming he is a gay boy!).

“Create something which does something”

What will I make?

For this module I will design and create a working prototype of a single player shooter game. I plan to produce a modern version of the classic asteroids game released in 1979 by Atari Inc. Using Adobe Flash CS3 and the Flash Media Server 3 I will create an updatable scoring system, which will enable a real time data, users will be able to potentially watch other players climb the rankings on the score board. Sticking to the set criteria I will use an object orientated approach to the design and structure of the coding. Objects will also take on “lifelike behaviours”, for this I will give objects their own set of individual characteristics, for example dynamic speed, gravity and so forth. Bee’s will fly and the plane will have a thrust like momentum, bullets will also act in a projectile way relevant to the current speed of the plane.

Game functionality:

Following the original concept of asteroids, with a modern touch the user will be presented with a series of levels on which he/she must progress. This is done by killing enemy bees on the stage, this will enable the user to gain points and advance to the next level. Collisions with the bees results in damage to the players health, this adds to the gaming experience giving the game some level of difficult , which will intensify as the user progresses.

Things to consider:

As the game will be creating objects dynamically along with movieclips and actionscript code (a significant number of them), I will need to consider how I will manage these objects and create effective ways to reduce and remove them when they are no longer needed, reducing the overall load on the operating system. Updating the score via the FMS will also be done in a way that reduces network traffic, enabling even the lowest of bandwidth users the opportunity to run the game effectively without lagging or delay.

To minimise code and to utilise simpler/effective ways of coding I will adopt the object orientated way of coding, creating 3 master actionscript classes Bee.as, Bullet.as, and Plane.as. Each of which will have their own characteristics and functions.

What is your idea? Abstract about 200/300 words

My idea aims to raise questions relating to digital privacy on the Internet. Should our online activity really be tracked?

I want to explore the many issues and debates with regards to anonymous browsing and digital privacy on the web. Some of the issues that I would like to research further include; Have we become ignorant to the fact that nearly every step we take on the web can be logged, traced, stored and used to “help improve” our web experience?
A major debate online questions Google Inc’s Privacy Policies and their attitude to data privacy. With the slogan “Don’t Be Evil” how can we be sure that this is not a tactical ploy to reel us in and to make us feel safe? There has to be some motive to giving out free applications and features.

By using existing technologies I aim to demonstrate whether or not the power and information that these businesses hold on us as individuals is being used to benefit the end user or instead to benefit the companies themselves. From the moment we log on to their websites they are aware of a multitude of information, ranging from what operating system we are running to personal information such as our location. Google Inc for example, offers a range of services and by signing up to just a few of these services they will know where you live, your age, and even your bank account details. As Google now own some of our largest online and offline services and products are they really looking after our data or are they using it to take over the web? At present our personal data is in safe hands, or so we would like to think. With the recent legal between Google’s YouTube and Viacom, our information is no longer in trusted hands.

My aim is to expose how and why these companies gather, utilise and process our data. I will pay particular attention to the motives of capturing and mining data on the web and the effects of these actions. Are these motives for the good of the public, a way to enhance the user’s web experience, or just a sneaky way to increase profitability, hits and above all to gain even more market share?

Keywords

Anonymousity, Privacy, Data mining, Internet Coporations, Digital Privacy

What do you think is innovative about your idea?

This project is innovative as it will look at both new and existing debates surrounding the field of privacy on the web. Although previous research into this area has been done, the web is an ever changing environment. As a result of this growth and change more powerful and innovative methods are being developed and introduced by companies allowing them to further data mining.
There are numerous resources online all with direct information on specific aspects of privacy, relating to companies such as Google.

Describe your audience

The target audience for this piece would be individuals who are unaware to the data collection of such corporate firms. I will aim to target Google inc customers/users as in January 2008 they owned 68.8% of the search engine market compared the other big players in the search engine field.

What form will your work take?

At the moment I have not fully decided on which way to take my project but i have been considering a number of ideas:

- One of the ideas is to create an interactive which will expose the information that Google harvests. Users could select the services to which they utilise or are subscribed to, be it you tube, Google mail, Google search. The output from the installation would give the user an insight into how much of their personal information these companies have.

- Another of my ideas is to create some kind of tool / aid to reduce the amount of data captured by such global data mining companies. Tolls could include a new web browser or even a website with tool kits and steps to reduce data capturing.

Describe the “cultural” or “industrial” context of your work.

I feel the project is a directly related to the industry as there is ever growing concerns regarding anonymous browsing. I plan to base my project on both the internet and on the actions of Google as culturally they both used by millions globally and Google is one of the most dominant figures of the internet today. It also relates to political / industrial events when the lawsuit between YouTube and Viacom.

Describe the technologies that you will use.

The technologies that I am considering using will use will be mainly web based, using a combination of Flash, PHP, Java, HTML and possibly some api’s.

Outline the steps of production that you will follow.

To begin the production of the project I will firstly need to form a more solid idea/realisation for the project, pinning down the conceptual and cultural aspect. After talking it over with a project supervisor I am sure that my idea will become more solid allowing me to explore more areas and offer a more focused approach to the project. I will need to consider more precisely how I will technically achieve the results and what methods I will take to embed the effects of using such companies into the viewers mind.

Researching will pay a heavy part in the concept of the project. My initial area of research will be looking into the way these companies harvest our information, revealing the subtle techniques they use to track our everyday movements. From the location in which we log on, to whom we are emailing and even what we are emailing.

After defining my research area I will begin to build a number of prototypes, of which I will experiment and test.