Compare/Contrast Article – Section 2

Compare / Contrast

The Data Fountain

I chose to compare and contrast The Data Fountain in relation to our Drought Awareness Management (DAM) System. The Data Fountain was one of my original researched projects from the Related Work assignment and as so, I took the responsibility of comparing and contrasting it for this one. The project is very much a fundamental piece of research for the development of our own project, and this article with outline not only the similarities and inspirations with The Data Fountain project but also the differences to which makes our project our own.

“In the morning paper, I can read the weather report as well as the stock quotes. But when I look out of my window I only get a weather update and no stock exchange Info. Could someone please fix this in my environmental system? Thanks.” – Koert van Mensvoort

The Data Fountain serves to fulfil the innovative concept of using natural surroundings to display data. In this case it’s the concept of using fountains as information displays to output data – ‘datafountains’. The datafountains are a ‘calmer’ solution to the otherwise chaotic and stressful environment of a stock market room. Through the use of environment; a more tranquil and naturalistic method of displaying data was adopted. This concept was not undiscovered before The Data Fountain, in fact credit is attributed, by the Data Fountain team, to the Next Nature organization. This being a group who actively support the development of a nature inspired culture [link].

In terms of audience experience they consider the experience as part of the term; information decoration for display techniques, that aim for a balance between aesthetics and information value. It is for any person, any human, to be able to use their natural comprehensive mindset to solve the need for finding information about something that otherwise is just displayed on an artificial screen.

Our project uses this concept; through the use of a ubiquitous set-up we intend to show the dangerously low levels of South-East Queensland’s water supply catchments through the use of water fountains to help raise awareness and respect for the current drought we are endearing. However ours take it one step further, through the fact that we are actually using the depleted source itself for its own representation – water. We feel this will greater effect the mindset of people as it adds a greater connection of understanding, then say; just showing figures on an interface. Our ideal end user-experience is to successfully raise awareness to the people of South-East Queensland of the drought we are all facing together as a population through the use of a ubiquitous installation that physically shows the levels of water left in our dams through interactive live datafountains that show important information of our water levels. (More about the Interactive aspect later.)

The technology however will be extremely similar, so much so that discussion has already been opened with the people involved with the Data Fountain to help with certain technical obstacles of our own. Primarily this is in relation to the water pumps and how to control them; which turns out to be by frequency modulators that control the electricity that are being sent to the pumps. It should also be noted that the overall issue of working with water is a risky business and we hope to learn of some already made mistakes to which we can avoid for ourselves!

The Data Fountain team were of course successful in developing a full scale, working model – however our goal for this semester is a working prototype of one fountain that can be controlled by dynamically changing data. One aspect that veers from the original concept of The Data Fountains’ is an interactive addition to the project. The end product would have ubiquitous-styled controls that change the scenario of the live-levels of the dams to other figures – such as what the levels were 10 years ago.

While the Data Fountain project is the key point of inspiration for our assignment, it also only serves as a springboard to our own innovations to which succeed over the Data Fountain’s original conceptual focus, audience experience and technology. At the end of the day we hope to have come up with an innovative piece that truly has a seamlessly effective impression on those that view it – for the better well being of drought stricken South-East Queensland.

References:

The Data Fountain Website
http://www.koert.com/work/datafountain/

Next Nature
http://faq.nextnature.net/

Compare/Contrast Project – Select Work for Comparison

The selected work I have chosen for the Compare/Contrast Project is the one that originally helped inspire our own project from my Assignment 2 research – The Data Fountain.

The Data Fountain is a crucial artifact of research for the basis of our assignment. In comparison it shares the concept of representing a form of information through the most rawest way possible. In this case it is the natural environment around you; The Data Fountain uses a water fountain as an aesthetically pleasing solution of representing chosen data – in their case the Stock Exchange. However with our intended project we hope to use the water-fountain concept to directly link the symbolic relationship of the water, to that of the water we are representing of the South-East Queensland Dams – to the vistors and fellow South East residents of Queensland.

The reason why I chose this project was basically a given; I chose to review it in my second assignment task and from there it’s concept became a key basis for our own. I intend to compare and contrast this project with our own in terms of conceptual focus, audience experience, and underlying technology. The Data Fountain itself has received media attention and review articles of its success and leading example of ubiquitous technology.

“I’m not sure whether embedding digital information in the manifest world is just cool, or if it’s useful too. But doing it with fountains is so cool it makes the question irrelevant.” – Futuristic

Team Troubles

While it was an easy comprimise introducing Tim Cooper into the group this morning straight after the lecture it has recently come to my attention that a 5th member has been designated to our group!

With the group not meeting until Friday afternoon and the actual report (which requires us to state individual project-roles/responsibilities) due Monday it is unlikely he can be implamented into the report this late!

While it is no ones fault of all this, the fact remains that we litterly don’t have time to re-arrange things before Monday…help?

Week 4 Frenzy

Apon being one week prior to our reports being due today’s lecture focused on pitching our presentations for the day.

Today’s group meeting finished up with some great progress. First off I pitched an idea that will we probably will be going with. This was that we could use the base of the fountains to physically locate where the dams are in South-East Queensland. This could be achieved with an illustrated satellite view of S.E. QLD on a circular base, with the locations of the dams each having their represented fountain on top of them.

We now have alocated roles & responsibilities within the group in terms of different aspects of work related to our project-goals. We also agreed on the allocation of sections we each must write for the Proposal Report due next week.

Week 3 – Progress

Today’s lecture focused on sketching and pre-conceptual work for domestic and ubiquitous computing design. We were also introduced to the Report that’s due in two weeks.

In today’s group meeting we discussed further, the actual interaction that will be involved with the project. We settled on the interactive screen being the form of interaction. The screen will be the actual link between the fountain piece and the public, it will give more freedom of telling important related information as well as let people interact with the fountain by activating different scenarios.

These scenarios could be past or future simulations in terms of water levels in the dams; the user could set a year and the fountains’ levels would change according to the over-all average catchment level of that year. Or insteading of seeing what the Dams used to be they could also see what the Govt. predicts the levels to be in 5 or even 10 years – with the drought still around or not.

From today we have all agreed to go off and just start sketching possible designs and solutions to this project. So a later blog will be posted in the week hopefully …

Team RamRod ‘07

Teams were formed this week (2) and I have been put in a group of three with Dean and Ben. The similar project idea we all shared was of an environmental theme; Dean’s was about a temperature indicator and Ben’s was a virtual environment screen. However in the tragic case we might be seen as hippies from having ‘The Environment Team’ as our group name I was able to push ‘Team RamRod’ to the guys for our new, super-awesome name.

So far we have agreed to go with the concept of my proposed environmental idea; which was the drought-awareness fountain:

Drought Awareness (David Whipps) Glass Contained Water Fountains each representing one of the dams’ levels supplying South-East Queensland through the intensity of their height. Each linked through the internet to a source that supplies the percentage-full that each of the particular dams are at the time. Whilst a sensor takes in how many is in the room and uses that in a calculation that produces a theoretical fact of some sort in regards to water-wastage. Obviously targeted to all locals of S.E. Queensland who are all responsible for how we get through this drought.

However we are really keen to implament all three of our ideas into something that will help the public be aware of the drought we currently all are apart of.

What Next? Though we have a concept going we are still in the process of thinking of how to make it interactive for the public. We are so far, thinking of using a screen interface for people to be able to play-around with certain water scenarios to see the future/current effects on our South-East water supply – with possibly a link to the fountains that could also be used to represent data from the use of the interface.

Alocation of jobs/specialties etc. are yet to be finalised as we all agreed it is too early to finalise on this. Thus, everyone is really just looking into anything they can so far until our goals for this project are finalised.

UbiComp – Written Forms

Visit the Website [External]

A complex array of typography that re-images itself and interacts with those in the installation space to reveal layers and meanings with in itself.

I think this project has the potential to be very fun and sociable considering the high degree of interactivity. It also could be potentionally be used as an education tool for a children’s installation.

Constraints: The software behind this would have to be very complex to work with, let alone to create. The skills and abilities of persons within each of our groups will be an important thing, as a lot of technologies potentionally involved require ‘a little more’.

UbiComp – Volume

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“Volume responds spectacularly to human movement, creating a series of audio-visual experiences. Step inside and see your actions at play with the energy fields throughout the space, triggering a brilliant display of light and sound.”

I think this project would tie in brilliantly with any art gallery, its simple a beautiful piece of work.

Constraints: As it has sound this obviously could not interfere with other exhibits around the gallery – so the project would have to be audibly contained.

UbiComp – Laser Tag

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Pioneering a new wave of street art, Laser Tag offeres the ability to graffiti with the magic of laser and on a huge scale.

“In its simplest form the Laser Tag system is a camera and laptop setup, tracking a green laser point across the face of a building and generating graphics based on the laser’s position which then get projected back onto the building with a high power projector.” –

I found this project very exciting, in terms of street-art innovation and the technology involved. It seems defineatly possible to attempt and quite similar to something Multimedia Post-Grad students are already working on. Of course the scale of this project would be used in our situation but the interactivity with the hand-held laser to draw is defineatly feasable.

Constraints: Obviously, once again for this it would be size available. Which isn’t a lot. Also the shape of the room makes it constricting for projector features full stop. In this case the room would also have to be dark.

UbiComp – MoBeeLine

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A ubicomp concept combining clothing and bluetooth/mobile phone technology, the MoBeeLine uses the text messages of others to present certain shapes on the user’s jacket.

This is another novel idea of using technology to link us all together. The potential of this technology is rather limitless. In regards to the IAG – and the fact that we can presume most public viewers have a mobile phone – we could provide them with a number to text and portray a giant accumilation of words artistically portrayed over a wall.

Constraints: Firstly the oppurtunity for punks to upload rude words onto the display would be the most obvious constraint – possibly a word filter/blocker could be implemented. As I have stated in a previous blog; trusting the public is not something we have the luxery of doing. What ever is developed – no matter how amazing, is vunerable to the ‘interactor’, whether he/she be a typical person of interest or a ‘punk kid’ up to no good.