Friday 29 April 2011

Anti-Radiowaves


After doing extensive research on methods of absorbing and reflecting radio waves I have begun a headpiece that will reflect and absorb radio waves. My theory being that in 2040 cellphones will be a part of the person, rather than an extension and in someway attached to the brain. So far its simply a wireframe, but it will be covered in materials that absorb or reflect radio waves. I will be using broken mirror shards and a material that will hold and absorb water - water does a very good job of absorbing radio waves.


Thursday 14 April 2011

Presentation Summary

Capital Chronicle News Issue # 1 feedback Thursday, 14th april 2011 The Capital Chronicle released their first issue. It was welcomely warmed from the audience of Victoria University of Design + Arhitecture plus the Wellington Council.
Feedback from the issue was:

The blood powered Revolution:
This topic was welcomed and from this point in our exploration, we will further look into making this research more feasable to express notions of processes and how it will work in wellington. How people will engage with the networking system and further implications involving expansion of networks through human groups inside the city scape.

Capital Chronic: This film is an introduction to previous research. It was a good abstract summary of work already done so if we could do this as we continue in our research making the audience congure feelings of fear, anxiety, emersion and excitement.

The Harsh Log off:

Dehydration: They liked the imagery of dehydrated carrot

Skin Deep:

Tribal Times: They liked that we linked the people into tribes by the effect of having the technology in your system - like we were making the negative effect into a positive effect.

River of Wind:
They liked the idea of using wind to look further into the wind powering etc as we are a good city candidate for that kind of technology.

Return of Swimming: They liked the idea of making people swim etc because of the water around Wellington. Also the fact that we instantly associate swimming in Wellington's water as being too cold - so it's like we are wanting people to experience the cold and feel something.

Sensory City:
We will look into producing some more short films showing the Sensory factor of wellington to a greater extreme focussing on emotions linking with made sountracks to emplify the feelings

Wellington Weather collection 2040:
Look into making more of the collection, they liked the visualisation.

Skin Deep, Touchy Feely Tribal Times



The Harsh Truth of Logging Off

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Capital Chronicle Issue#1

Blood research slide

Captial Chronic Article

Sensory City on Vimeo

Sensory City, Looking at how Wellington already incorporates all the senses and why it is the perfect city for our proposed future

Capital Chronic Cinemas

Robbie and Niquita finished the abstract video about Wellington networks and connecting into the network. The video includes aspects of ideas that have been explored by the group including entry into and out of the network, water, metal/biological poisoning and blood batteries.

The video can be found on Vimeo HERE
or on YouTube HERE

Alternatively on Blogspot,

My Contribution to Paper (so far)


My two articles to go in the paper so far.

Test publication of Issuu

Brainstorm

Here is my personal brainstorm from which we had our group barinstorm (too big to scan) and re-invented our concept, broke it down and took the essence of what e want to achieve.

'Sensory stimulation interaction and satisying physical relationships'

I still have the brainstorm if we ever need to refer to it, I think our focus was on a social future.

Birth of Capital Chronicle layout

Made a template for our interum presentation, figure we make a more advanced one for the final product e.g. A3 format, articles that tetris in with one another, headers get creative with it. Then, print off a stack of them. Hopefully Capital Times can help us with some of this.

Capital Times: potential mentor

Hi Capital Times,

We are a group fourth year Industrial and Digital Media Design students from Victoria University. Currently we are involved in the 'City 2040' project run by the Wellington City Council in which we are developing a projected potential future for our inner-city. In the coming years we forsee a revolt against the increasingly digital interaction and networking we have today, 2011. Thus, we propose that tactile things such as the newspaper will become highly valued and in vogue once more. We are wanting to present our final presentation in newspaper format and hopefully print of a hundred or so copies of the 'Capital Chronical' (written from the present perspective of 2040, with proposed 'breaking news').

We were hoping we could be mentored/ liase with someone from Capital Times between now and end of term, June 2nd? With regard to layout, printing, creative advice, writing styles, general tricks of the trade as we have only read the newspaper - not written, edited, published, printed as you guys do! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Tenzin Heatherbell
Capital Chronical, 2040.

City 2040:
http://www.wellington.govt.nz/projects/new/wellington2040.html
Capital Chronical:
http://capitalchroniclenews.blogspot.com/

WINTER 2040 CAPITAL COLLECTION

Wellingons erratic weather is a part of this city, something we cannot escape. The winter 2040 Capital collection aims to force fashion and weather to work hand-in-hand. Collection in a literal sense, garments to complement a sensory city. Wild Wellington, howling, sodden and bitterly cold. To emphasise the elements. To celebrate sensory fashion.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Video Effects and Stills


Robbie and Niquita combined have been working on the abstract video about networking and social interactions. The video includes aspects of ideas that have been explored by the group including entry into and out of the network, metal/biological poisoning, blood batteries and current social interaction in the city of Wellington combined with ideas of the future. Animals were used to show networking on a basic biological level.

Below are some stills taken from the footage we collected while I was experimenting with effects and colour.









Trade Me Article

So basically the networking went live on Jan 31st and we are the first city in New Zealand to do it.
I don't think we were the first internationally as there is free wifi in London, New York, Japan and Rome. But we could always use the idea that we were the first in New Zealand and do the same thing with the physical interaction. We were the first to take away the idea of radiowaves everywhere - using Nathan's radio wave research?

Click here to read full article

Monday 11 April 2011

You are the Wireless Connection

Conversing with Scientists.

An idea for the future of a wider network communation we developed was through researching blood batteries. Our technology we were researching changed after the news of the tardigrada. The Tardigrades were too big to be able to use in the bloodstream housing carbon nano tubes. We furthered to design a system while conversing to Canterbury Bio Chemist Honours Graduate Dylan Gifford for the possibility of creating a protein which encased a certain blood battery that is being developed currently. The protein will house the battery meaning that potentially the future digital citizens could have one injection of these proteins straight into the blood system.
A liquid will be designed that has housed in it special nutrience that once is digested will alter the protein so that the ions turn the battery on within the protein. hence making a wireless connection be turned on inside the protein which the bloodstream is feeding. This system we designed so that a closer connection could be formed within digital connectivity.
When the blood sugar/nutrience levels drop once the liquid has digested the wireless connection will turn off until more nutrience is consumed.
This way you could control the connectivity of how much wireless network you want available to use daily.
This will be an efficient way of tackling problems of reception due to weather extremes and other connection difficulties involving routers and those silly memory sticks that give of wireless signals etc. you are the connector to the digital life.

Below is some of the statements Dylan constructed with a more formal approach and scientific terms.


Blood batteries were developed by a group of scientists at Rensseiaer polytechnic which are able to charge themselves using electrolytes found in the human body. The battery is consists of 90% cellulose impregnated by carbon nanotubules and electrolytes (replenished by the bloodstream or sweat) and are extremely thin and are therefore flexible and relatively durable. The batteries are small enough that they can be placed under the skin without discomfort and are able to act as both a high energy batteruy and a high power capictor (large burst energy). It is thought that production of the batteries can be achieved by mass producing large thin sheets of the material which could then be cut to match needed size and shape. These batterioes could theoretically be placed in the human blood and within it they would be able to provide an infinite amount of power to a device as long as they had acces to electrolytes in the bloodstream.

http://www.livescience.com/1782-paper-batteries-powered-blood.html
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/blood-battery.htm

Protein conformational change

Due to the necessity for certain proteins and enzymes to alter their activity changes in the conformation of a protein are able to occur which can allow for a proteins activity or binding affinity to be increased or decreased or their function changed. The need for these conformational changes however must be relayed to the protein through a mechanism of which there are several. Allosteric regulation involves the use of allosteric inhibitors or activators (inhibitors decrease activity, activators increase activity), also called effector molecules, which are able to bind to the protein to cause the change inconformation and/or protein activity. Effector molecules can range from small molecules, such as dicoumarin compounds, to large ligands and neurotransmitters such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid. These molecules will be in close proximity to the protein in question as a direct or indirect result of a stimuli change within a cell or organism allowing for the effector to bind to the protein in question.

It is imaginable that you could create a protein which housed a transmitter which upon binding an effector molecule would be able to cause a conformational change within the protein causing the movement of an atom or amino acid, which was able to freely exchange electrons, into a position where it was able to complete the circuit of the transmitter effectively turning it on. The effector would have to be very small to allow access into the blood stream, although a smoking or inhalation product would allow for transfer into the bloodstream with greater ease. The effector would eventually leave the bloodstream wherein, as long as the protein/ effector binding affinity was not too high, the effector would dissociate from the device and leave the bloodstream deactivating the device.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/10/0910757106.short
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allosteric_regulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GABAA_receptor
www.livescience.com

Water Photoshoot



So I know the idea has changed a little bit BUT I thought we could incorporate the idea of networking through water without actually designing the network... We could make a statement that "Networking through technology in 2040 will be as essential as water to humans"




The first image shows our harmonious connection with water - like kind of where we are now with technology - the idea of it surrounding us but we are still in control.

The second image shows us getting more comfortable with technology - playing and splashing about and reacting to one another.

The third image shows us submerged in technology - unrecognizable to ourselves as we are being taken over by this new technological age.

The final image represents 2040. We want to break free from the submersion of technology and look at our more physical way of living.

Capital Networks Film


A Capital Chronicles Network Film is being created.
This short film will show a crude way of entering into series of networks, clash of technology and raw abstract.

Starring jono, niquita and robbie

Precedents for this film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxINMuOgAu8

Heres a list of materials that interact with Wifi radio waves. Attenuation is the loss of intensity.

Harry Potter

Moving Images in Newspapers are reallll

Underlying Problem

"How might we promote citizens of Wellington City to engage in a more sensory stimulating form of interaction, so that they will be more satisfied in their relationships, in 2040 and beyond?"
As a statement is everyone happy with that as being the challenge we intend to solve through our proposed solution? Be it a network, weather stimulation, dried fruits, or sub cultures with varying distinguishing features.

Sunday 10 April 2011

Sensory City





Nathan and I made a quick video today about Wellington as a Sensory City.
We wanted to incorporate all the senses within the city and natural environment.


Metservice Discussion

So I have been talking with William Nepe who is a meteorologist at MetService. He has sent me this article which sums up Wellington's windiness - it's an article written by a group of wind surfers who wanted to look at exactly how windy Wellington is. This is the basic summary from the article:

• Wellington is located in a River of Wind - a wind corridor between the South Island and the North Island.

• Wellington is the windiest main centre in New Zealand with a mean annual wind speed of 22 km/h.

• Wellington also has an average of 22 days per year with mean wind speeds over 63 km/h (40 knots).

• Wellington averages 173 days a year with wind gusts greater than about 60 km/h or 32 knots.

• October is generally the windiest month of the year with a mean of 27 days with wind speeds over 15 knots, 19 of those days are over 20 knots.

• North is by far the most common wind direction, blowing from this direction (0 degrees) a massive 37.6% of the time.

• Wellington is one of the windiest cities in the world (possibly the windiest) and is windier than other southern windy cities including Cape Town, Perth, and Geraldton.

• The strongest wind speeds where recorded at Hawkins Hill of 248km/h (134 knots) on the 6 November 1959 and 4 July 1962.

If you would like to read the full article click here.

There is also some graphs and visuals included in the article.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Where we're at.

So we have rehashed our DLF ideas into something new, here's where I think we're at at the moment.

Tenzin has written a future scene where there is a technology overload in the world. We want to name Wellington 'The Physical Capital of the World', and look at solving the increasing detachment between people and people and people and their environment, without abandoning the digital network that will exist.
Utilising new technologies we will look closer at the networks within Wellington and create solutions that address the need for enhanced sensory experiences. We will focus on the 5 senses; touch, taste, smell, hearing and seeing.

For instance, in my previous post there is a link about smart materials, one of which being a metal that takes one solid shape, and changes to another at a certain temperature. A solution to the detachment between people and their environment/the weather/the outdoors could be to use this metal to construct walkways or buildings that had open sides or ceilings during hot weather but during colder temperatures the metal changes to cover over these areas.




Smart Materials

Did some research into the future of physical interaction, found a nice paper about smart materials

Could be useful for walkways and changing architecture to incorporate the senses.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Un-finished

Hey guys, this was harder than I thought! But I like the current affairs style, I've covered the singularity more than on-line net working but I'll keep going with this Saturday morning. Its totally unfinished but I figure I post where i'm up to, its kind of not on the ball yet though I know. Cool to write and imagine though.

If you have feedback then log in and write a comment. Future scene as follows:


In 2035, almost three decades after the late British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared that Britain would become the “digital capital” of the world, they well and truly established it[1]; much to the despair of Korea who claimed that the singularity would be the new space race. Britain finally created an entity entirely from digital means that reached the WSS (World Singularity Standard). They proudly named their entity ‘Beta Moore’ after the founder of the law of singularity, Gordon Earl Moore. ‘Beta Moore’ passed all six internationally recognised IQ tests covering areas of logic, spatial reasoning, mathematics, problem solving and creative thinking.[2] He even conquered the tests excelling the passing median by 4% across the tests even when the ‘Flynn Effect’ was accounted for, which in 2035 had raised the average human IQ of the Western world to 154 points.[3]
Since the birth of Email, Facebook and cellphones the world of digital networking has expanded and reached a state of total integration when in 2019 China disbanded its postal system and many of the physical headquarters of its government agencies. Xi Lang on behalf of the Chinese government stated “We are now at an inflection point in history. The number of letters sent in the past decade has been less than what was sent in January 2009 alone. We are in a changing world and our country is developing to meet the changing needs of our people.” Following this in 2022, 96% of the worlds countries also disbanded their postal systems, and physical branches of their government agencies; including banks.
Now, in 2040 we are amidst the global boycotting of online networks. As artificial Intelligence became more capable they were delegated various roles in society, at first menial such as data processing and assisting in web construction etc.  As their capabilities increased as did their careers, and many became recognised as honorary citizens of their respective communities. Soon small boycotts of companies began to occur for those that employed AI staff, such as Google, Facebook and vast numbers of online businesses. In 2039 IBM announced the two AI beings, Phil Moore and Sarah Moore, as creative directors on their products development board. A collective of outraged citizens banded together and laid siege on their New York headquarters where the two staff were living. During the siege three protestors were killed by Phil and Sarah Beta in self defence. Although AI are not allowed to carry weaponry by law, they had apparently acquired it since their delivery to consciousness 3 months earlier. “We have been trying various interrogation processes with little success. We have since shut down the two beings and have our tech department deciphering their hard drives, but being advanced beings you can imagine the number of experiences they have already stored after 3 months. Our team is doing our best, when we have more information we will let the public know” states Sgt. Clark Simms, New York Police Force.
Following this unfortunate event many have ordered their AI beings to be shut down, while others advocate the integrity of their friends. “I have known Millie for about 8 months now, and in that time we have grown very close. If anyone begins to talk about shutting her down I’ll make sure she gets in touch with the best lawyers in town. It won’t happen” says Michelle Bell, Manhattan resident.


[1] http://www.physorg.com/news164380104.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect

Detraments of being online

It's horrible, but happened 8 years ago, I imagine as the digital natives more readily come of age it will only get worse. I'd recommend watching the whole thing, very relevant to what we talked about today. Being able to communicate harshly through digital means but not in person.
Ryan Halligan Youtube vid

Logging off photoshoot.




Photoshoot exploring the effects of continuous logging off from the network. Effects include skin pigmentation, skin rash like effects and the draining of the "Nyx water" through the sweat pores.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Photographic Diary. Site photos

i really like the fact that in the middle of the city, the neclected areas of the city centre is where the most beauty develops. The overgrown nature in public spaces where people flock to get enjoyment out of.

The weather predicts the activity of cafe culture. The abandoned tables develop their own individuality from the rain patterns.

This is the junction where business crosses with public and the bohemian cuba street culture. Public crossings is where the most varience between the community is visable

Weather Vs Fashion

In 2040, the weather in wellington most likely will not improve from its unpredictable patterns of rain, wind and temperature flukes. Realistically the weather will only develop a greater extreme curve.
I will explore fashion in wellington and how the public dress themselves in wellington in response to weather patterns. This will look into outcomes to withstand temperature changes and dress styles.
Could wellington develop a garment that could tackle the problem unprediction.

Monday 4 April 2011

Site Photos











Just to kind of get a picture of where we are working with I walked through there today and took some photos, obviously we will get better ones but just thought the little diagram could use some visuals to assist.