Locative Media & The City

For anyone who may still check in randomly on here...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...
2007... Here we come.

-Will

Paul's entry made me think about traveling and visiting parts of Florida. I helped 2 friends, on two different occasions, move to Florida. The first moved to Orlando. I was down there about 2+ weeks. In that time, I saw the area my friend lived in and got an overview of Orlando. Note that she lives on the outskirts of Orlando, actually near Kissimmee (Disney area - Mickey is not far away), and not in Downtown Orlando. Most of my views of the area took place while riding in the car with my friend. The lovely weather and sun was of course nice. However, it felt so... industrial or impersonal at times. Almost everytime we headed somewhere, we'd either be driving on these huge boulevards or have to travel on the highway. It felt like it was cutting you out of the area. I often take the thruway and the expressway in the Buffalo area to get from A to B, but the side roads exist, are pretty straight-forward and offer a diversion from the highway setting. When I had mentioned this to my friend, she said that "of course you can take the side roads" but that it took forever to get anywhere. Perhaps it has something to do with Florida being more spread out? I am not positive. It kind of seams like it, at least in that area. There are large groupings of buildings and complexes, then stretches of what seems like endless roadways/highways connecting them. (Of course, the Orlando area is very commercial and tourist-y, so this plays a role in many things, I am aware.)

I thought the Erwin Redl presentation (11/30) was really great. His work was visually exciting and motivated my creative juices. He has a very interesting musical background and I was totally excited when he mentioned John Cage and his player piano rolls and the music composed by chance. I studied this in one of my own music courses. Cage and Henry Cowell were both interesting musicians we looked into. Cowell recorded "The Banshee" and often played on "prepared pianos." Sometimes items would be placed in between the strings, other times it would be set up so things would vibrate when keys were pressed. In "The Banshee" Cowell used a technique to not strum, but to move down the length of the piano strings to create a sound effect. I used to think I was a bit off when I would play with my piano when I was younger. When I had the house to myself (even when people were outside during summer) I would sometimes take apart my piano... opening the top, taking off the top section... removing the lower panel. I would play around striking and strumming the strings and using the damper pedal. It was quite interesting to me back then. When I studied about some of these techniques in college I was kind of amazed really. I felt... musically "normal" if you will. :)

Chris - I enjoyed your map of Buffalo. :)

I usually travel with other people, and this has affected the way that I reconstruct the relationships between roads.

You kind of hit the nail on the head with the above statement. I'm assuming by traveling with other people you mean not driving yourself. It is far too easy to not pay strict attention to the road when you are a passenger. It's quite an interesting phenomenon. You and the driver are travelling the same roads, yet, the perception and experience are completely different. I could travel a route a handful (or more!) of times and still never commit it to memory, but drive it once or twice and it's almost cemented down permanently.

The presentation on the Murmur Project tonight (11/16/06) makes me feel inspired... to think of projects that involve groups of people. Projects that somehow get people involved can turn into something quite powerful. I guess like all art and art-type projects, it's interesting to make an impact on a community as well as make an imprint on people's minds.

Putting these projects out there can make people think, or give them something to ponder. With this type of project, it can evolve into something greater than originally imagined. This type of project can educate people on history of an area -- a city, a street, even a building or park bench.

I'm not exactly sure how I want to craft this blog post, other than to dive right in and tell you about some new technology I find quite fascinating.

Whether it's desktop technologies or developments for mobile citizens with an active lifestyle, technological advances are all highly interconnected. That which is created for one specific purpose often moves on to another or inspires other creations.

I was quite fascinated by this video: Jeff Han, multi-touch interface. It is a video about multi-touch computer sensors, from the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) event. More than 1000 people gather on a yearly basis to hear the latest ideas in technology as well as many other areas.

I am writing an ice breaker blog post. I will post some other ideas and thoughts on things a bit later. Perhaps getting the ball rolling -- so to speak -- will bring about some writing momentum. I'm still mulling over some of the discussion from yesterday.

Have a good Wednesday everyone.