User:Mxrwho/Documentation or My Work Diary

What I learned today and how I used it

18/09	19/09	20/09	General rest of the week thoughts, comments, etc.
Today I learned that Kodak had cows in Chicago that ate grass rich in silver which resulted in the production of a gelatin used for the production of highly light-sensitive photographic paper. I am going to research DIY film-making methods (and maybe projectors too). It seems like a good material to work with (and on) and maybe I can combine it with the some post-digital processes, which we also talked about today. Within the scope of post-digital processes, it was also interesting to play with the cassette player and to contemplate what comprises post-digital art and how technologies can be combined. Thoughts on "Sound Memory": I had to choose a field recording from a world map. I immediately went to the place I grew up, out of curiosity. I found two sound files: One was bird singing and the sound of water, and the other waves and wind. The second one was much closer to my house. I chose that one. Reading the description for my metadata recording, I noticed that I read half of it in Greek. It made much more sense. My memory was improvisational and generic: By generic I mean that it was not a specific memory but a memory of my whole life, a memory of any other day, but any other day in a past that is getting distant. I wasn't planning for a nostalgic homesickness and I was surprised by the result. A bit lyrical but the combination of sounds is interesting. I will probably mix the three files into one, maybe even make a little video for it (hopefully with some contrasting imagery, to take the piece even further).	Radio Worm broadcast: Experimental and collaborative play with sounds. For me two things were of particular importance: (a) Seeing the natural flow of work between the three caretakers, and (as always) the jamming aspect, also while "reading" with music in the background. I have created pieces from found material in the past (collaging elements from texts), but never before in a performative manner. I would enjoy doing it more often. I must listen to the recording to get the impression of the listener. Being in a studio is always rewarding. A nice introduction to our server and its commands.	Collective annotation. What we did as a group was more of a constructive reading (with a brainstorming element) of the text and from there we chose to annotate the points we thought were important, controversial, outdated or relevant to our current experience. Thus, our annotations were collectively curated and agreed upon. Regarding the context, we managed to approach the structure of society as something prevalent all around us from architecture to the way we view the self, and we extended Deleuze's thought and metaphors to the shape our society has taken today. Code and Deleuze's still raw idea of its importance were also mentioned during our discussion. The protocol was set on the basis of what felt natural to all of us as a process.	The most striking element of the first week was to see the group dynamics unravel and how a climate of collaboration and good practice was intentionally cultivated from the very beginning through discussions, creative projects and group exercises. I am looking forward to reading all texts (also the ones I already know, and also those used in the annotation exercise) and to investigate radio archives in archives.org. I am playing with the idea of radio in my head: what does it mean, what does it constitute, what is its potential and how could we twist it. Meanwhile, another project is forming in my head: An installation combining aesthetic elements from "Green Porn" (a model version of it), an actual set and sound sources. Could be interactive. My idea is very particular, I even have the color palette ready, I need to decide on some details regarding the text (in image and sound) and the possible interactions.
25/09	26/09	27/09	General rest of the week thoughts, comments, etc.
Visiting Worm again I had the chance to talk with Lieuwe, who is a natural storyteller. From our conversations, which included among others what constitutes community, I picked an inspirational story about his aunt who had the initial S embroidered on the shoulders of her Salvation Army robe, which stood for "Soup and Salvation". I aspire to create a podcast for Worm with some of my fellow students that will bear this title.	It was very interesting to listen to the radio show of the second team of caretakers. It made me want to compare it with my team's, and it is always a unique experience to listen to a show while you already know the studio where the broadcast takes place. Building a soundboard was also a nice experience. It is also nice to revisit html and use it in an experimental setting. I enjoy the collaborative element of the course the most. ||	The Barthes article, one of the two readings we had for this week, was well-known to me. It's one of the main articles introducing the reader-response theory, which can be implemented on most interactions, especially when there are hierarchical expectations. It's interesting that I somehow always come back to this. Maybe it's something for the foundations of my thesis after all.
02/10	03/10	04/10	General rest of the week thoughts, comments, etc.
Making a radio on our servers. Interesting process.	Interesting radio show, especially reading in turns and effectively using background sounds. Disappointing to see none of my classmates contribute to the live conversation when they were asked to. Playing with the oscilometer. Nice to see how you can twick old technology to make something else than what it was intented to make.	Visual mapping. For me not necessarily useful but it was nice to see how association spring up.
09/10	10/10	11/10	General rest of the week thoughts, comments, etc.
Grep command. Weasyprint. CSS (which I luckily am somewhat familiar with). Suddenly, a new plan forms. Ideas about how to manipulate text spring up. These ideas are going to be of instrumental value for the zine content.	Meditative protocools. Amazing interviews (Leslie's resonated). Flowcharts. George Perec. The Machine. In combination with the grep command and a series of other text commands (such as sed and cut) I am planning to write a poem/play, with the material we already have from (some of) our pads. The plotters have been plotting against us.	Glossary. Wordhole. An interesting undertaking, especially seeing how broad some definitions can be. Language. The greatest mystery of all. I still find the mind map a bit redundant.	This week the pieces of the puzzle called SI22 fell into place and I can finally see the bigger picture of what it is that we're doing here. It took me a month, which is not bad. I really like what we're doing here, how it's organized and how everything unravels.