User:Mathijs van Oosterhoudt/rwrm/desc
Descriptive texts
Dialhack, 2012
- What
Two old phosphor-green monitors stand on top of a simple rectangular white pedestal in an otherwise empty space. They display lines of what seems like computer-code, and are composed of addresses and telephone numbers. The two screens work in sync with each other, displaying new information simultaneously. When two new phone numbers come up on the screens we can hear two phones dialing and being answered at the same time, occasionally resulting in voice mail messages, confused people at the end of the line or in some rare circumstances a short conversation. Once both persons being called have hung up the phone, the same ordeal happens all over again with different telephone numbers.
- How
Two PCs crawl the internet for typical names, using various sites about common first and last names in various languages. These are used to construct full names, which are then searched for through the American White Pages, to give the computers a corresponding address and phone number. The computer is able to dial both numbers through Google Voice's telephone services, and listens closely to the beeps of dialing, recognizing when someone picks up (The rhythm of beeps is broken) or when it switches to voice mail (high-pitched beep). When two people pick up the phone, they are connected to each other. All steps are displayed on one screen for each PC.
- Why
We are never alone anymore, no matter where you are, most people will have a mobile phone in their pocket, turned on. Someone, anyone, can at any moment jump into your live for a short moment. The good thing is that generally we are aware of who is able to call us, and we generally don't mind them calling us, even if we are alone. Whether this will stay this way in the future is debatable, and Dialhack aims to emphasize this idea of always being connected to a network of other people, by connecting people with each other that are unaware of each others existence, yet share the same network.
- Success
People understood the interaction of the installation and needed no instruction, the shape of the installation allowed for children of all height to gain access to the interface. Even without a proper understanding of what to do, a simple touch or trying to understand the installation would quickly show the user how to use it.
- Failure
The easiest way it could've failed is technical failure, problems with different skin tones, recognizing certain shapes, etcetera. In the end there were very few technical problems, but the problem of the installation was in keeping a constant interest. As it was made for a short interaction with no further follow-up, people would interact with the installation and leave it be afterwards.
Flutter, 2011
- What
Flutter is an interactive installation for children. A large green rectangular block has a milky white lighted screen on top. Around this block, there are several smaller blocks to reach the screen. In front of the screen is a white wall on which hand-shaped bright-colored figures are projected, flying around and 'flapping' their wings. Once you place your hands on this lighted screen you can see faint traces of the shape of your hands on the wall in front of you, simply showing you the contours in different colors. Once you keep your hands steady in place, it turns into one of these figures we had already seen on the wall. Its shape and size remaining the way you had put your hands on the screen, joining all the other hands flying around on the wall.
- How
Inside the big green box is a computer with a webcam, which is looking at the piece of milky glass. The screen is lighted with two bright lights from the inside, which causes things put against the glass to have a strong silhouette. This silhouette is recognized by the software on the computer, and the computer generates a corresponding shape from it, projecting it on the wall in front of the installation.
- Why
Having hands is something we often have in common with others, but what we do with it is different. Hands may look different, have different sizes or colors, but when you ignore all this and look at the shape of a hand, they are all very similar. What differs is what we do with it. By taking away all information of the hand except for it's silhouette, this idea is exaggerated. One could simply place his hand palm-down on the installation, but it would look similar to ten hands on the wall in front of you already, stimulating the idea to do something different and be creative.
- Success
Technically it works, short conversations are had between completely random people that are far apart from each other. Otherwise it's hard to talk about it's success in what I wanted to accomplish without a public viewing.
- Failure
Dialhack hasn't been publicly shown yet, but there are various ways in which it can fail. First with such technical installations are the possible technical failures which are possible. More importantly is the understanding of the viewer of what is actually happening; there is no explanation. You hear a constant dialing of phones, which might or might not be picked up. The constant development of how it sounds and what happens implies that this is happening live, but nowhere is there a statement that it indeed is. It's also easily possible that while listening or viewing the installation, no phones are ever picked up, making you wonder what the point of the work is.