*Note: I grew impatient with the email I sent not loading so I'm posting this via the web interface. I'll delete the emailed post whenever it decides to make an appearance.*
I have some ideas for prototypes I would like to do around the emerging trend of URL shortening. It's a popular service for the Twitterati (myself included) for keeping our character count below the arbitrarily chosen 140. To that end, after much more frustration and headaches than it should have been, I installed an open-source URL shortening service called YOURLS on my personal web space. Since it is an open-source system, I'm going to try and dive into it and hack it apart the next few days to do the kinds of things I want. Here's my first shortened link using the service: http://kunaldpatel.com/yourl/1.
My main problem with URL shortening services is that, when we really think about it, their function is completely arbitrary. They move beyond shorthand or slangs we use for words or even addresses (ex. "13th Street and 5th Avenue" -> "13th & 5th") and obscure the address so that it is only machine-readable. When I look at a tinyurl, or a bit.ly link, or any of the others, I often have no idea where it could lead. While URL's are not a perfect address system (the inventor revealed recently that the second "/" in "http://" is totally useless, which amused me for some reason), domain names and other clues in URL's are our only context for knowing where we are going. Much like veteran New Yorkers can divine cross streets given a street address on an Avenue, a URL can reveal much about a link before one clicks on it. I have 2 ideas for projects in mind right now:
1) Create a URL shortening service that stores your URL, but returns back someone else's previously-shortened site. I read a blog post over break about the Kashiwa Mystery Cafe in Japan and it's been on my mind since then. What is unique about this cafe is that you get what the person before you ordered. The next person gets what you ordered. With the abstraction of URL links that occurs through shortening services, we put our faith in the system that it returns to us what we originally gave it. I think a shortening service that returned back what the last person shortened could be interesting along the same lines and a)inform users to not be so trusting of the service they use, and b) evoke curiosity and an emotional reaction over the swap. 2) Similar to the first idea, I would instead create a service that generated a "permanent" short URL for a group of people to share. Each a time a user in the group contributed a new link to this service, it would become the shortened URL, replacing whatever had previously been the link. For example, let's say I set up a shortened url called "this.is.awe.sm", then each day I could check it and it may be something different that one of my friends found particularly intriguing. I wouldn't know where I was going, or why, but I would trust their judgment of adding the link. The idea of 1 link and shifting destinations as a subversion of our typical expectations appeals to me. I'll start work on 1 if not both tomorrow, probably with some technical diagrams and research mapping out how I may do this, followed by some prototyping.One of the things that came up during my meeting with Cynthia was the fact that all of my garments so far have been women’s wear. Because I’m interested primarily in the objectification of women, I thought that this made sense. But if I’m pursuing the idea of making men experience what women feel when they are subject to the male gaze, perhaps I should design a men’s garment that will reflect what the wearer is looking at (when they look at other people). This would also further my approach of trying to make people feel something *physical* rather than to solely recreate an emotional, empathetic state of some sort .
Sooo, here’s my idea. I could create a mens suit made of swatches of fabric, about 3”x3”, that are lined with nitinol wire. Nitinol, or ‘memory’ wire, as shown in this video by xslabs [] can be used to create kinetic electronic garments where pieces of fabric move as the underlying nitinol wire contracts and expands. In regards to my suit, however, instead of contracting at random (as the garments in the video do), the movements of the suit fabric would be acting in response to eye-tracking. The person wearing the suit would be wearing eye-tracking gear that would monitor their viewing of a picture of a woman. As his eyes rested on certain parts of her body, the corresponding pieces of fabric on his suit would lift up from the memory wire contracting, exposing his nakedness underneath. This would hopefully suggest to the wearer the invasive nature of the gaze and allow them to experience how degrading it can be to constantly be objectified.
Conceptual Framework and Research:
I have a p-comp itch that I need to scratch. For a while I’ve been thinking about the idea of a fashionable tech/wearable tech accessory or garment that would react to the frequency given out any time the PDM communicates with the pod insulin pump. The communication occurs when there is an error, when the insulin is low, when the pod needs to be changed, and when the person inputs food intake for insulin delivery.
From much research, I have found that the devices operate at 13.56 MHz. What I want to do is pick up this frequency and turn on an LED or series of LEDs. I could see this living in a recycled insulin pump pod, on a garment, or on an accessory bag for pump supplies. The imagery would be in line with my continuing exploration of mythology and would hopefully help alleviate the anxiety associated with diabetic management.
I’ve been in communication with someone who has a lot of experience making RF circuits and he and I have exchanged emails regarding this idea. I found a circuit schematic that I think will work (click here to check it out). My concerns are in interfering with the device. I’m also concerned that this is not something my audience will want. This is something the DT tech kids would want…
Either way I wanted to get the concept sketches and logical steps out there so I could stew on it and decide if it’s something worth pursuing.
What I’ve done so far:
I spent a LOT of time getting together parts from Digi-Key (many capacitors!) and I also created a constellation-inspired recycled pod necklace with an LED inside. The constellation on there is that of Cetus, or the whale, as a reference to my previous use of the whale as associated with the pump.