projects in the works

linked below are the 3+ projects I'm currently thinking of persuing for 542/44. thank you.

1. embedded music/sound accessed by a gps equipped user.
I've posted more about this project earlier, the bulk of which is included in this post, but a summary is given below.

the test platform would be the GPS tablet that I've been using to test and debug the other mobile media projects (patholog and zombie gps). GPS goes into processing, processing parses the data and does something with it. In this case, I'd have to integrate some implementation of jdbc into the standard processing libraries, or maybe they've released some sort of built-in processing method for database queries already. I haven't checked in a while. Then you walk around with your tablet, the GPS periodically uploads a coordinate, and whenever you enter a new 'sound zone' you begin streaming a new audio signal. the tricky part, other than the database query, is making the audio feedback quick and efficient -- without too much lag. Certainly for performance, smoothness is a virture. Another idea: record releases into the landscape. An album comes out, and you embed each song into a zone in the space. then record buyers can demo the album by interfacing the landscape. could also be used for stuff like a GPS radio station.

2. More patholog stuff
the patholog project description is here. The demo is here. We (the mobile group) have mostly finished this platform, and now I know there is interest in building upon it, especially in regard to the 'social software' aspects of it. Namely, we'd like to add some additional functionalities that allow users to view the paths of an articulated network of friends, or allow them the opportunity to browse other paths on the patholog network that intersect their own. The idea behind this is a way to connect people by their movement through the environment. There is a longer list of other social applications of the patholog that we are exploring. The other two steps for the project are a) drawing out a visual representation of the path and b) a way to learn more about the places you've been by tracking your path. The idea behind b) being that we often miss interesting things we pass. At the end of the day, you would be able to therefore browse not only your path, but also points of interest along the way.

3. Game
I want to do a persistent world game. ok, not so much persistent world as persistent space. I'm envisioning a stage game, each stage containing a skill puzzle (of the non-jigsaw variety) to be completed before moving on. the idea is that the game is played one way while you're playing it, but then the nature of the game subtly (or non-subtly, maybe would be better) changes if you are inactive. Basically, the game pieces could have an agent model applied to them when the game was not being engaged, where they would move and interact with each other without the player. When the game is re-entered, it is different -- the puzzles may have become different, the nature of the stage may have changed. It would be cool to do something like this with story as well, although I can't quite get my head around how I could implement that yet. anyway...probably would try and do this in java, and if I got desperate, flash.

4. Cowboy electronic guitar
I bought this shi*ty harmony acoustic guitar for like, $20. I'd like to gut it, take the strings off, etc., and build it up as a series of unique m1d1 controllers (wireless would be really cool) that could be used to control audio/visual performances. I've always wanted to do something like this inside a guitar -- creating a sort of uber-instrument (or rather, an uber m1d1 controller) that would be really flexible and would easily interface with some of the performance stuff I've been building up over the years with max/msp

5. Open House Project -- keeping tabs on the numbers.
Again, I documented this project here, but here is a brief description:

- video camera hooked up somewhere near the door to zml. maybe hooked up actually in the entrance room (where the racks are kept)

- camera tracks movement in two ways -- left to right, and right to left. if the movement detected is right to left, it is assumed someone is leaving the room, if the movement is left to right, then someone is entering the room.

- depending on these actions, software running on a machine in the zml keeps a virtual representation of bodies in the room -- one virtual object for each real person in the room. The camera tracking -- checking if people enter or leave the room, will inform this tally.

I'd also like to add some sort of sonic capacity. Tripp and I were going to work on this, and he liked the idea of having a static music track. I'm not sure I'm in love with that idea, but I could be persuaded.

6. Mobile Sound Communites
paper I wrote for this project (which I completed a large part of for 590 last fall) is here, and other like blurbs about it, such as this one can be found elsewhere on this site.