It’s done.

Using the Digg.com API as the derivative data, and Flash to create the generative art, I’ve managed to create a dynamic visualisation.

Click here to see the project.

The Digg API generates data consisting of elements from its website that has been generated by the users. There are many sets of data to be used although I stuck with getting the latest ‘digg’, it’s user, it’s ID, the story, the time it was ‘dugg’ and the status of it.

I first set out to create an object revolving around the screen based on certain mathematic equations, then these equations were substituted for the data coming from the Digg API. This data was retrieved in the XML format, which was then parsed into the flash file to be used. So for each time the data was retrieved, it would effect the equations in the objects motion, such as the angle, trajectory, speed, height, width and other factors, distorting it’s pattern and creating a spirograph effect. After that, the path was traced using certain Flash functions which showed the path the movieclip has taken as well as creating the pattern that you see. Another factor that is constantly changed is the colour of the pattern.

This project was quite enjoyable as the dynamicism (?) is always sporadic and eventful which makes each piece of art completely different to the next. It can also be quite useful understanding how to work with API’s such as the Digg one because I feel API’s will become a big part of the future, as shown with Facebook’s Developer Applications and what these could do in a commercial sense.

The simulacrum is an individually produced presentation that encapsulates a reinterpretation or innovatory development of an object. The presentation of the object should be in the form of a 90 second animation / video.

For my simulacrum project I would like to explore the ideas, social context, connotations, history and future of an spray paint can. This object strikes me as interesting because I have noticed the connotations that people have for the object will vary from person to person depending on the role they have in society. For example, the sound of the can releasing paint may be, to an old person, seen as quite a threatening action and strike fear in them because of the preset developed ideas and connotations they have which may have come from own personal experiences or even through media. On the other hand, a paint shop worker may have the developed connotations of the can being in a workplace environment.

I also like the idea of the freedom that this can of paint can bring. It would be interesting to explore ideas for the storyboard in a kind of flipside environment, where as ‘tags’ are considered to be a sort of freedom of speech, having the can as a tool to censor this. Of course there are many paths I can look down and will come up with a storyboard soon. I have already created a model of the can in 3D Studio Max. I’m not too keen on the program but have managed to get a good looking model which I will post up here soon.

One thing I found interesting was when my friend heard a paint can rattle and he said it was ‘the sound of crime’.

My organism project is coming along nicely in time for handing in for next Tuesday. The XML given from the API has been parsed into the flash file and the visualisations have almost been finished, then I will just need to bring it together so that the visualisation is created by the data. I don’t want to give too much away as another group seems to be doing almost exactly the same as me, but I’ll post up the final product on Tuesday.

I’ve got these all saved to my del.icio.us account, but I’m too lazy to sort out a plugin for wordpress to show them so I’ll post them here as references.

We Feel Fine is divided into six discrete movements, each illuminating a different aspect of the chosen population. These movements are represented in the We Feel Fine applet.
to visualization art feelings design web2.0 blog flash … saved by 3337 other people … on oct 16

Data presentation can be beautiful, elegant and descriptive. There is a variety of conventional ways to visualize data - tables, histograms, pie charts and bar graphs are being used every day, in every project and on every possible occasion.
to visualization data design graphics information inspiration webdesign flash … saved by 4737 other people … on oct 16

digg api community
to digg api … on oct 14

Stamen has developed a reputation for beautiful and technologically sophisticated projects in a diverse range of commercial and cultural settings.
to design visualization agency webdesign flash data web … saved by 692 other people … on oct 14

digg flash api visualization
to flash digg api visualization … on oct 13

generative artifacts
to art design processing generative programming flash graphics … saved by 157 other people … on oct 13

Specification:
Ubiquitous inter-connective technologies are enabling innovative and creative solutions to many problems in work, home or social life. These include PDA, digital video, Bluetooth, GPS, artificial intelligence, software agents, BroadFi, intelligent materials and so on. It promises to be the future of the computing paradigm as even more functionality is combined to support users’ requirements, real and imagined.

Your task is to put yourself in the shoes of a designer in a leading edge innovation company. You will produce a conceptual design of a solution to an interaction-design problem that you will define. You are free to choose the problem and type of system you design as long as it meets the criteria in this document. At the very least it should be a technical solution to an identified problem. Some suggested ideas you can use as stated, or inspiration can be found as a separate document – or you can use your own idea subject to approval.

You may use any and all current and (realistically) projected technologies for the design of your system. Your outline design specification should provide an explanation of your chosen hardware and software technologies sufficient to show that you have a good understanding of their characteristics, benefits and limitations. Similarly, you should also demonstrate an understanding of the cognitive and ergonomic characteristics of the target users and show how your design takes account of them.

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The simulacrum is an individually produced presentation that encapsulates a reinterpretation or innovatory development of an object. The presentation of the object should be in the form of a 90 second animation / video.

Through the lecture series you will develop an understanding of what ‘object’ may represent and your simulacrum will be the vessel in which you present it.Whatever your chosen object is, it’s design, soundtrack, visual presentation and physical packaging of your project should all be derived from the properties held within your object and its history.

Hand in deadline: Friday 30th November @ 2pm to the faculty Office Read more »

Something has changed, and the Faustian, Promethean period of production and consumption gives way to the ‘proteinic’ era of networks, to the narcissistic and protean era of connections, contact, contiguity, feedback and generalised interface that goes with the universe of communication. With the television image – the television being the ultimate and perfect object for this new era – our own body and the whole surrounding universe become a control screen. [Jean Baudrillard, ‘The Ecstasy of Communication’, in Hal Foster (ed) Postmodern Culture, Pluto Press 1990]

Roy Ascott, in Lucy Lippard’s Six Years: The De-materialisation of the Art Object, 1973, points out to the link between previous art practices, conceptualism in particular, and contemporary media production. The issue of dematerialization and more currently conditions of immateriality of artwork become a key concern of current cultural theory and is most evident in current digital art practiceFocusing on a specific example of current digital art practice (an individual work, specific project, a tendency or a ‘genre’) you are required to write a 4,000 academic essay discussing the changing nature of creative practice with particular emphasis on the transformation of the concept of ‘artwork’. The examination of current cultural conditions needs to build upon appropriate critical and theoretical material in support of your argument and must be underpinned by historical influences and references, The essay must follow academic writing guidelines (see document ‘essay writing guide’ on the module portal), make explicit reference to the reading on the module, with references clearly cited and bibliography listed.

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The brief will be delivered in detail during the Week 2 lecture on Monday 1 October.

Each group will present itself via a live website as an independent media company or digital arts agency/organisation. Whatever form it takes, each group must ‘sell’ its products or services by demonstrating its professionalism and excellence through superior web content and effective marketing, such that it will immediately attract and impress any potential client or visitor to the site. The information presented must be based as far as possible upon actuality, so that you are really demonstrating the combined skills of the members of your group.

You should research as many existing sites as possible, in order to find inspiration and guidance for your own site. You will be expected to reference these sources and any other books/journals/materials and incorporate them in a webography to accompany your site, with annotations explaining why you were drawn to these sites.

You should include the following elements on your website:

Original idea for company/agency/organisation
Description of same (mission statement)
Products/services offered
Profiles of individual members
Selection of best work (based on course projects) with annotation
Compelling images/sound/text
Content and form appropriate to such a company/agency/organisation

This project requires you to set a problem and provide a unique, innovative, creative, informed and culturally aware solution. Projects are to be negotiated with your tutor through an initial proposal written up in your online workbook - blog. It is essential that the production work is informed by critical debate underway in seminars and lectures.
This is in contribution to the development of your professional practice and your final year project. It is essential that the development and production of the project is informed by critical debate underway in seminars and lectures. The proposal must include description of the topic, evidence of relevant research, critical references (bibliography, netography, filmography, etc), illustrations, diagrams, technical solutions and a realistic production timetable. This proposal contributes an important component of the overall mark, as it sets out aims and objectives against which the project will be assessed.
It will be assessed informally in week 19 and 20 in term 1.

You are required to produce and keep updating online workbook/blog (that works as a traditional ‘workbook’) that document your individual research and development of idea for the practical project. The document needs to include terms of reference (critical sources) relevant to your area of research, any ideas or examples that may support your project. It needs to be included on your website and will be assessed as part of your project.

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Part 1 - Organism 25% Delivered by Chris Speed

organism n. 1. any living animal or plant including any bacterium or virus. Jean Baudrillard, Simulations
2. anything resembling a living creature in structure, behavior, etc —-, organ’ismal or,organ’ismic adj. organ’ismally adv.

‘The artificial purification of all milieus, atmospheres, and environments will supplant the failing internal immune systems. If these systems are breaking down it is because an irreversible tendency called progress pushes the human body and spirit into relinquishing its systems of defense and self-determination, only to replace them with technical artifacts. Divested of his defenses, man becomes eminently vulnerable to science. Divested of his phantasies, he becomes eminently vulnerable to psychology. Freed of his germs, he becomes eminently vulnerable to medicine.

It would not be too far-fetched to say that the extermination of mankind begins with the extermination of germs.’ [ Jean Baudrillard ]

‘We are becoming like cats, slyly parasitic, enjoying an indifferent domesticity. Nice and snug in the social, our historic passions have withdrawn into the glow of an artificial coziness, and our half-closed eyes now seek little other than the peaceful parade of television pictures. Perhaps our eyes are merely a blank film which is taken from us after our deaths to be developed elsewhere and screened as our life story in some infernal cinema or dispatched as microfilm into the sidereal void.’ [Jean Baudrillard ]

‘Artificial Intelligence: the art of making computers that behave like the ones in movies.’ [Bill Bulko]

Working in pairs generate “a living creature in structure, behavior, etc…”. The final organism should be a form of interactive media, able to work on any platform from mobile, desktop, internet, ipod etc. The intention is to make the organisms accessible on a web site so the shockwave movie should be embedded in its own web page. This will have a dramatic effect on the size of your organism, be realistic.
The rational behind this exercise?:

A: to generate a problem which is not technology driven, i.e. the idea drives the project. You should not start working on the computer until the ‘life forms’ spec is generated. You will then have to find ways of realising it within the limits of the technology.

B: to force you to consider a truly timebased, multidimensional, interactive problem. A life form needs to feed and be fed, sleep, move, multiply, expel waste etc. It will be sensitive to certain conditions and have a life expectancy. Do not use buttons, instead concentrate on a process of interactions. In defining a life form do not fall into the trap of using cartoon characters, question existing models, redefine and innovate! What is digital life?

For this project I’ve been looking at using different forms of website APIs to use as the generative content behind the project. I feel these APIs are very powerful and useful in the future for a number of applications. It seems a better idea to work on what will be the driving force in this project first, then see what can be built from it rather than the other way round.

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