http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk Blog and Portfolio of Luke Chambers Tue, 13 May 2008 20:30:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just got back after handeding in the CD after a long long night sorting the last few bits and pieces out. Check out the Invisipaths project website by heading here. All thats left now is to prepare for my presentation next friday, which I'm looking forward to in a way. Anyway, ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-all-finished/ Been rather busy in these last 24 hours and the next 24 hours are going to be even worse! Just finishing off all aspects of the project now including the hand in cd so hopefully I'll get it all done in time, fingers crossed! http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-finalising-details/ After looking at the Google maps api today its surprisingly easy to put maps on your webpages. Using a bit of php I've written it has allowed me to generate these maps on the fly using the lon and lat co-ordinates stored in the database which can be put on ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-google-api/ I have a website design! Once again its been nice to get my hands on photoshop and sink my teeth into a bit more design. Here's what I came up with: I also came up with a design for the phone application: http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-website-design/ After coding for so long and doing a bit more on the website today its been nice to actually do a little bit of design for once and I've really enjoyed it! Here's what i've come up with this evening for a logo for the project: Will hopefully have a website ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-logo-design/ So today I've been working on the all paths page as well as the compare paths page, which will allow you to compare up to 3 paths at a time. I've also created a search facility that will allow users to search within the location, city and date fields in ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-paths-paths-paths/ I've been focussed mainly on the website side of the project today and vieing the paths using the gallery viewer in particular. Its been tricky figuring out the actionscript in flash, linking it up to my own xml but I've done it! I've also managed to make the my paths ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-viewing-the-paths/ So far today I've made pretty good progress with the phone flash application that will record and play back the paths. I've managed to extend the prototype I made as well as figuring out how the xml data will be linked to the images that are uploaded. I've also figured ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-progress-with-the-phone-app/ To make it a little clearer in my head I've sketched out a few plans of how the project will work as a whole including the website. I did it rough using my lined paper and have uploaded them so they're not great. Take a look: [gallery] http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-a-few-plans/ I've been trying to come up with a suitable name for the project and after a long think I've come up with the name Invisipaths, short for Invisible Paths. These invisible paths describe the journeys people might take everyday but other people don't ever notice or get to see them. ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-a-name/ Today I've been hunting for a good enough flash 3d rotating picture viewer that I could modify to show the paths. The effect I was wanting is one that shows the pictures coming towards you as if you are walking the path yourself at your computer. Heres a preview of ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-gallery-viewer/ I've finally got TimedSpy and Shozu working on my old Nokia 6600 after playing about with the upload settings. They work quite nicely actually and provide a good solution for my image capture and upload problem. I simply set TimedSpy going, taking a photo every 5 seconds and once I'm ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-timedspy-shozu/ So first things first, I've got a new phone; an O2 Xda Orbit 2 to be exact. The best part of this is everything is built in, so none of this external GPS receiver business anymore which is brilliant. Apart from that, its much faster than the Xda I was ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-newhardware-softwareissues/ Finally got my dissertation finished and it is now available online. To download a copy please click here. http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/dissertation/dissertation-download/ Had my first meeting with Mike today so I was just taking him through what my project involves as well as what I might put in my presentation. I hopefully communicated this over to him well enough for him to understand what I was going on about but he seemed ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-meeting-with-mike/ Had my last project meeting with Chris (hes off to Edinburgh) last week and I was discussing the presentation with him as I'm still a little concerned with the critical context side of the project. I took some notes about what I might want to include in the presentation: Sides to ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-last-meeting-with-chris/ After handing in a draft and having some feedback on it from Joasia I've been working to get it all finished over the weekend. I'm hopefully finished now but my plan is to let people read over it and tweak it if necessary. Then its binding time, staples here I ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/dissertation/dissertation-nearly-done/ I've been so busy that I had completely forgotten to mention my finished narrative project! Anyway it takes Raymond Queneau's One Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets, translated by Bev Rowe, and allows you to experience these poems through a mobile device using GPS in Plymouth. Its quite a simple piece allowing you ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/narrative/narrative-one-hundred-million-million-mobile-poems/ Finally got my space project finished up. It even has its own dedicated page, go check it out here. http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/space/space-audio-jitter-finished/ I was having trouble working out which way longitude and latitude ran across a map so I decided to create a little jpg to help illustrate it: Using this I can hopefully work out the action-script I need for the flash application to control the binaural sounds. I've also had a think ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/space-working-out-long-lat-amongst-other-things/ After pulling my hair out trying to get the HP iPaqs to work with the GPS middleware I was given by Speedy I finally managed to get it working with some different hardware. Adam has kindly lent me his old xda mini pocket pc and I've also borrowed a GPS ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-software-hardware/ This afternoon I went down to Mutley plain and took some recordings using my binaural setup. I'm pretty pleased with the results which make a good starting point for more recordings. You can have a listen to them below, put make sure you're wearing earphones so as to appreciate the ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/space/space-some-binaural-recordings/ After buying some electrical tape this morning my binaural recording setup is complete and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. Here's what I used to make it: Minidisc recorder - borrowed from the equipment loans in uni A 3.5mm Stereo to Two Mono Adaptor - bought from Maplins Two stereo ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/space/space-binaural-setup/ After today's meeting I'm fixed on my idea now. My starting point is the book of Hundred Thousand Billion Poems by Raymond Queneau, a set of 10 sonnets. Each line of the sonnet is cut which allows you to select which line you want from each of the other 9 ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/narrative-idea/ Managed to finally get the games module nicely polished off last week with the games test and handed in the pack this week. I'm really quite pleased with what I contributed to the project and I still can't believe I programmed the whole intranet! You can still play the game ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/games/games-finally-finished/ Whilst looking for a solution to my project idea I stumbled across KuneriLite, a toolkit to extend Adobe Flash Lite capabilities using Symbian S60 phones. This allows you to easily use a phones technology, such as GPS, camera, accelerometer, using plugins. A very useful solution but with 1 draw back, ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-kunerilite/ Ok, so today I've been looking at a few options in order to create my project. I started looking at GPS loggers for the iPaq and found a few useful links: GPS Log 1.1 GPS Data Logger Sunset GPS Logger I've also been looking into hacking TomTom navigation systems. It started off when I ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-ipaq-tomtom/ Been thinking more about how my project will shape up today. As I want to use this ghosting over video I also thought it would be cool to have a heads up display to show the intended path and route the previous rider took along the course. This could also ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-more-ideas/ At the end of my last meeting Chris kindly lent me a GPS receiver for me to have a play about with. Unfortunately it didn't come with a usb cable so I was stuck with trying to get data off of it using its in built bluetooth. Another unfortunate thing ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-gps-woes-and-solutions/ So after being to the Mscape festival and being enlightened to the joys of Mediascapes I have come up with an idea based on my research and previous ideas. Firstly here's a sketch I did at the festival: What this little sketch explains is the basic idea surrounding how it will ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/space-the-big-idea-2/ On the Monday and Tuesday I attended Mscape Fest 07 hosted by the guys at the HP Labs in Bristol. This involved "workshops mentored by industry professionals, speakers from a range of backgrounds, a showcase of mediascapes and plenty of networking." Mediascape is a bit of software that allows you ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/general/mscape-fest/ I've been looking at the work of Alvin Lucier; a composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception, James Turrell; an artist primarily concerned with light and space and Christo; environmental installation artist. Here's what I've found: By Alvin Lucier: Music for Piano with ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/space-the-big-idea/ So I'm halfway through my critique at the moment where I'm studying the immersive properties of Get the Glass.  This game was made as a campaign game for the "Got Milk?" theme over in the US. If you haven't played it already you should because it is absolutely stunning. So, ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/general/games-critique/ Tom kindly pointed this website out for me that contains free GPS software as well blurp about a GPS receiver that will plug into a PC that only costs £10. Bargain! I'll have a play about with the receiver Chris gave me as well as Adams phone and if I ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-equipment/ Had my project second meeting with Chris yesterday and its more clear to me what I might be doing for my project. First we went through my project triangle and narrowed down the projects that were closest to mine. When we were doing this he asked me to think about ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-second-meeting/ So I've found a few other projects now and I have located them on my project triangle. This allows me to see where my project sits relative to other projects in the same area. Click to enlarge: All of these projects can be accessed online, just follow the links below: Urban ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-triangle/ For space yesterday I had a meeting with Chris Speed to discuss where I could take my ideas of emotion mapping next. The idea is to come up with an idea before the end of the term to present. This presentation is to include the ideas surrounding what I intend ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/space-gps-sound-light-and-time/ Last week we visited Drake Circus to document the space, taking influences from our precedent studies. As I was studying the work of Christian Nold, his Biomapping project in particular, I decided to try and map emotion in the space. At first I wanted to try and do this subtly ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/space/space-drake-circus-emotion-maps/ So I had my first project meeting with Chris yesterday and I think it went rather well. What Chris aims to do first is outline where my project lies in a critical context. To do this he uses a triangle to map out the 3 main areas that surround the ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-first-meeting/ I've come across a few interesting articles in the past week detailing (very near) future technologies and applications for GPS and RFID tags. The first article involves a trial program involving 10 secondary school students in the UK who are being tracked with RFID tags embedded into their school uniforms. From ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/dissertation/dissertation-future-technologies/ To get an idea of how well the sports kit would work when I was on the bike I decided to do a test just to see if it recorded the data correctly. I used a set route, pictured below: First off I jogged the route, mounting the sensor to my ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-testing-the-nike-sports-kit/ So, this was the space! Well not quite the whole of Drake Circus but the walkway that runs from Cornwall St to New George St, as well as M&S. See map below if you don't have a clue where I'm talking about. The green highlight marks the area: Before we set ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/space/space-drake-circus/ Following on from my precedent study I now have to come up with a way of documenting an unknown space (all will be revealed tomorrow) relating back my study. I have a few ideas of what I could do: Christian Nold describes how his project is very much performative so I ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/space-documenting-space/ Christian Nolds Biomapping project consists of a lie detector connected to a GPS unit. This measures a participants emotional response relative to their position in space. The lie detector part is a Galvanic Skin Response sensor that measures fluctuations in sweat levels. A participant would be asked to take any ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/space/prescedent-study-bio-mapping/ My Nike+ Sports kit turned up today along with the adapter. For those who don't know, usually you would put the sensor in the sole of a pair of Nike+ trainers, but seeing as I don't want to spend more money I thought I'd buy the adapter. This basically clips ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/nike-kit-has-arrived/ Simon installed Mac OS 8.5 on his old G3 mac on Tuesday night, just to relive the good old days. He also installed Netscape Navigator 4.0 and thought it would be amusing to see how our websites displayed in it. Lets just say my site isn't very 'backwards compatible'. Click ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/general/my-blog-netscape-40/ Looking into the Nike+ kit even further I came across this article which basically dissects the Ipod Nike+ transmitter that would usually sit in your shoe.What really interests me at the moment is just how it works and the guys at Sparkfun managed to answer that for me: A sensitive piezoelectric ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-more-about-nike-sports-kit/ Just been doing some research into hacking the Nike+ sports kit for the Ipod. I first came across these hacks on hackaday.com and as it turns out the people at Gordon Labs have developed their own version of Nikes' online run tracking software. They've managed to single out the data ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-nike-sports-kit/ I came across this article whilst researching my dissertation. Kodak have said that they will be adding GPS in its camera range by 2009 and that got me thinking.As from the article; According to Kodak, the GPS information will be added to the meta-data of the photo allowing you to search ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/dissertation/dissertation-kodak-to-add-gps-to-camera-range/ Thankfully it was a lot easier to write my project proposal compared to my dissertation as new exactly what I wanted to do. Here's what I've come up with: I propose to create a system that combines 2 of my interests; mountain biking and mapping but in augmented reality. What I ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/project-proposal/ After spending more time in the library than I ever have before looking for books and references I've finally come up with what I'm going to be writing about for my dissertation: How are ‘locative technologies’ affecting and shaping society both in the real and virtual world? Obviously this is a working ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/dissertation/dissertation-proposal/ Today's games lecture was based around 80's games and Dan talked to us about game dynamics as well as why parts of the game interacted the way they did. He showed us Defender as an example, which is basically a combination of Pong (up and down motion of the space ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/games/defender/ After much thought I've decided to look at Christian Nolds' Bio Mapping project for my precedent study for the Space module. This interests me greatly as the end results are very intriguing and I feel it relates well to the area I'm interested in, ie. Mapping and GPS. Plus I ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/prescedent-study-christian-nold/ After a successful group creative session today I feel we have made good progress with the concept and story overview for our game. It really is getting quite exciting and I can't wait to get started on developing it. Not wanting to give away too much it might involve Espionage. ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/games/games-a-concept/ After buying a Nintendo DS Lite today, bundled with Super Mario Bros, I am very keen to explore its potential as a platform for our project for the games module. In our first lecture Dan showed us Ribbon, a game created by a group last year for the DS, which ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/nintendo-ds/ I just had a quick play of Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble (I know I thought that too) on Simons' Nintendo DS and I've learnt something. NEVER have a stupidly long intro with about a million cut scenes. By the time I got to actually playing the game I was nearly ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/thoughts-for-games/ Following the lecture and the first practical session I've been having a think about what I might produce as a project. Reading the project brief it must: Be object orientated - I'll use flash so this won't be a problem Contain multiple instances of an object - could use animals, people, creatures.. Have ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/scripting-for-digital-media/ Just returned from Chris Speeds first lecture on this module and he has asked us to come up with an object or preferably a person for a Precedent Study. This involves researching this person / object and documenting it in the form of a website. Although not assessed as such ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/ideas/production-of-space/ Whilst I'm on the subject of mapping I think it makes sense to base my dissertation around this subject as well. Not only could this involve GPS but could stretch out as far as user generated maps, like the annoying ones you get on Facebook as well as mapping photos, ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/dissertation/dissertation/ I've been trying to come up with a few ideas for my final year project and have thought of a few things as a starting point. I have an avid interest in: Mountain Biking Mobile Technologies Google Maps So, I feel why not merge these together some how. I have a rough idea that ... http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/project/final-year-project/ Welcome to the new Evolving Disicpline. Going for a blog type website this year to make it easier to jott down thoughts and ideas plus it makes more sense doing it this way. Anyway, I hope I can update this on a regular basis, maybe daily, but we shall see. http://www.evolvingdiscipline.co.uk/general/new-site/