Mixed luck today. Started off with some code for this cool bubbly thing. Didn't work :(

Managed to get Tarbell's 'Intersection Momentary' to work though. Really like the visuals I've got in this post. I like the idea of the imagination of the computer being a dark place, like a galaxy, where ideas 'spark', producing light (ultraviolet?).

Today I've been flicking through John Wood's 'The Virtual Embodied' thinking about embodied presence. Some useful stuff for my write-up.

I've also been reading 'I, Robot', a series of short stories by Isaac Asimov, following on from the paper I read a few days ago on the social nature of human interactions with computers. The stories look at machines with various levels of intelligence and emotional understanding.

I thought a quote from 'Robbie', the first story in the book, was interesting, both in considering a cyborg future and in the context of young people's current use of computer games and social networking. Here a young child has a robotic nanny, which the mother dislikes. The quote is something she says to her husband, who completely trusts the robot.

'I won't have my daughter entrusted to a machine - and I don't care how clever it is. It has no soul, and no one knows what it may be thinking'.

The bit about the soul is pretty relevant to my project, as it is this kind of intangible quality - the imagination - that I am looking at.

Have been thinking today about interactivity.

Was worried about creating a piece of print work when the title of this course is 'Interactive Media'. How do you interact with a piece of paper?!

Spoke with Mary and she outlined a few thoughts which have been growing in my head over the last few hours.

I interact with the software to make an image.
Different softwares interact with each other.
Different mediums interact with each other.
The viewer interacts with the work through it being thought-provoking and through a gradually developed understanding of its aims.
The viewers interact with each other discussing the work.

Hooray - lots of interaction!

Have also found a really interesting paper on the nature of interactions between computers and humans. In it the researchers show that:

'experienced computer users do in fact apply social rules to their interaction with computers, even though they report that such attributions are inappropriate. These social responses are not a function of deficiency, or of sociological or psychological dysfunction, but rather are natural responses to social situations'.

That is, the interactions between humans and computers are perceived as being social - we interact with them as if in a two-way dialogue. In this sense then, computers could be envisioned as having imaginations, even if these imaginations are imagined by humans.

Today I've been thinking about my project conceptually, trying to create a strong, clear idea from my thoughts last term and the furthering of my ideas (and medium) this term.

I am really interested in links between computing and creativity: how computers aid or hinder creativity, and how they can be considered creative. Moving from visual ideas around circuit boards, I want to produce a piece of work which represents the imagination of the computer.

The circuit board, if you like, is the brain of the computer. I wonder where in this 'brain' there is the space or the capacity for creativity or imaginative thought? And in this space, what would this thought process look like?

I made this all from scratch - isn't it be-a-u-tiful?! Some work needed in learning Processing if i want to code my own work!

I've come across an amazing conference which unfortunately started today in Berlin :( It's called 'Generator X' and looks at 'software and generative strategies in art and design'. Most interesting to me is the stuff on 'computational architecture' which brings generative art into the built environment, like my project will. The bottom picture here is the work of Jared Tarbell. He gave some little wooden kits of the these designs out at Flash on the Beach but I didn't get one :( Note to self: next time sit at the front!

This morning I measured the stairwell, using string! Got some very funny looks from some visitors looking round the facilities! Now I can email measurements to Nev, the guy who will do my printing at Mum's work, and talk to my partner Rob, who works at a builder's merchants where they hire out ladders and scaffold towers, about options for getting stuff on the walls.

I've also been looking for other 'artists' using Processing, to start looking at some different styles and broaden my ideas on what is possible within the software.

Have got my printing problems sorted! Mum's company can print sheets of paper 900mm wide by 1800mm long and they have methods of splitting large images up into these sheets. Cost will be minimal too - just the price of paper and ink. Yay!

Am sad not to be using vinyl because it would have looked so good, but it's just too expensive and the guy made it sound pretty tricky to put up. At least using paper I can use paste, or lining paper and spray mount - nice and simple.

Got some prices for vinyl emailed through yesterday: apparently 'self adhesive digital prints typically work out at £35 to £50 per square metre, depending on quality, [and] cut vinyl graphics are probably double that' - ARRRGGGGGHHHH!

Have emailed my mum (who works at a cardboard box factory!) to see if she has any contacts in the 'vinyl industry'(!). Am also thinking about moving to paper as I know you can get pictures blown up onto wallpaper and my mum may be able to do something similar with the printers at work.

Have been looking at the MSU stairway as a possible venue for my work. I really want to create an immersive space and this would be perfect. Images could surround the viewer going the full height of the stairwell.

Looking at this space, I'm thinking of creating one big image, perhaps with moving sections created by generative systems playing through projectors (this is where the colour stuff I was thinking about earlier comes in). Not sure where I'd put the projectors though.

Lots of practical problems with the space too - how on earth would I put stickers up?! I'll have to have a think about that. In the meantime, I have emailed a local company which does vinyl stickers to find out about costs.

Have been playing further with Jared Tarbell's box fitting code.

I have taken a photo of me (in a black top with a green-blue scarf) and managed to change the fitting objects from squares to circles, and change the number of them. I feel so clever!

Pondering whether I could use colour data input from people viewing my project to change the colour of the project.

Have looked through an issue of 'Computer Arts' that Andrew lent me, with a big feature on making vinyl decals. Sounds really good - just need to look into prices....

Look at my beautiful cow!! I have cracked some code (Jared Tarbell's 'Box Fitting Image' pictured above) - hooray!!

// Box Fitting Image
// j.tarbell May, 2004
// Albuquerque, New Mexico
// complexification.net

// Processing 0085 Beta syntax update April, 2005
// j.tarbell

int num = 0;
int maxnum = 2000;
int dimx = 510;
int dim = 330;
int dimborder = 10;
int time;

Box[] boxes;

// background image
PImage ab;



// MAIN -----------------------------------------------------------

void setup() {
size(510,330,P3D);
// size(dimx,dim,P3D);
rectMode(CENTER);
frameRate(30);
noStroke();

// create boxes
boxes = new Box[maxnum];

// load background image
ab = loadImage("http://www.ni-photos.jmcwd.com/cow3.jpg");

resetAll();
}

void draw() {
for (int n=0;n 0) {
// reset
selfinit();
if (chaste) {
makeNewBox();
chaste = false;
}
} else {
okToDraw = true;
}
}

int checkPixel(int x, int y) {
if ((x>dimborder) && (xdimborder) && (y0) {
// a lit pixel has been found
return 1;
} else {
return 0;
}
}
}
return 0;
}
}

// j.tarbell May, 2004

My Brendan Dawes book has arrived!

Maybe this will help me get into my head that 'Digital Media' is not just Flash and Dreamweaver, which is what I feel I've been taught, but can be anything!

As Mary suggested, I've been looking into Processing as an alternative software for producing generative art. I like it - it's so cute! Really simple - it's just a case of learning how to work it! I've been flicking through the e-guide that we have: 'Processing: a programming handbook for visual designers and artists' in the hope of working it out...

I've also been looking at Jared Tarbell's Gallery of Computation which has some amazing stuff on it, and a lot of source code! Yay - I love the open source movement! I'm going to spending the next few days playing with his code and trying to make it work with my own stuff in it.

Had a meeting with Mary today in her office hour. Now I'm totally confused! But in a good way I think.

Towards the end of last term Cath and I were asked to consider creating some kind of visual presence in the MSU hallways for the degree show. This project was completely separate from out project submissions. Now, Mary has suggested that I combine the two, making my project print-based; creating something material from a digital source.

Little bit concerned about creating an installation when the course guide makes out that that is really not allowed, but Mary has okayed it so I can't be penalized on that front.

I have some practical concerns: Can I get printing or die-cutting done on such a large scale? How much will it cost? Where in MSU can I put the work? Is it even feasible?!

Also, I'm not sure how keen I am on producing a range of small images - I liked the sense of immersion I was trying to produce with my animation and want to create that with print if I move to that medium.

We've just had a class with some feedback from Mary on our projects, as she's looked through our portfolios. Mixed review - I need to refine my concept and really focus on what my project is.

Am feeling a bit lost as I thought everything was sorted and stable and now its all changing again.

Playing with Flash. Feel like I've forgotten everything.

Mary is keen for us to start storyboarding so I really need to get my visual sorted.

Building on the sketches I made in my portfolio last term, I'm thinking about my project being a journey around a computer chip, or a circuit board. I like the strong forms of these objects, which would make a clear interface onto which animations could be built in a similar way to Semiconductor's 'Magnetic Movie' (right).

I like the idea that actions would be controlled by parts of the circuit board, as functions within the computer are.

Just had our first session of the new term!

Was a 'hello and welcome' class, introducing the course and talking about what would be expected of us.

New teacher - Mary - has amazing experience but has managed to scare the life out of me. Her previous students sound amazing and I'm not sure I can live up to that.