20081125

SCHEDULE

[click for full image]

20081116

DRAFT ARTIST STATEMENT AND BIO

It's only been a couple of years since I've been developing the skills necessary to survive this program. Seems like a fantasy to hope that I would've developed some kind of artistic approach through this mess. Apparently I have - to some degree. I just have the hardest time writing these things. Not only do I not entirely know how this should be presented, but there seems to be so little to write about...

ARTIST STATEMENT

An interest in physical computing and interaction design came as a natural progression towards working outside of the computer screen. The combination of organic and synthetic systems, as well as the psychological underpinnings of how bodies move and react in physical space, are key elements in my work. This stems from my personal goal of incorporating technology in a seamless fashion in every day environments and garments. Although my work focuses on interactivity, analog devices and simple electronics are my choice materials. Extensive work has been produced with metallic silk organza and conductive yarns because of soft circuits's ability to adapt to various shapes and to tolerate movement and displacement. This has allowed me to work directly with the body as a canvas. My current work is concerned with matters of blending: how sustainability and power consumption can be adressed directly from within the mechanism of the work, and how spaces that we define in clear-cut categories (fiction vs reality, private vs public) bleed into one another.

BIO

Born in Montreal in 1981, Catherine Marchand studied visual arts since a young age and focused on painting, drawing, sculpture and photography as creative outlets until her mid-twenties. Basic web design and programming skills got her into Concordia University’s Computation Arts program, where she discovered the fascinating world of electronics. She hopes to pursue her studies in a related field following her BFA at Concordia (2009).

20081111

DRAFT PROJECT PROPOSAL

I was under the impression that I had omitted to post some of the documentation that I had gathered so far, but it seems to be all there!

20081104

NEXT STEPS

- Gathering any prototyping / research material I may not have posted to my blog
- Posting the above
- Updating CV: figure out what needs to be included and left out for this kind of CV...
- Artist statement (this is mildly scary)

20081104

INTERACTION SCENARIO: THE REAL THING (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

20081028

INTERACTION SCENARIO: ACTUAL STUFF

I was feeling mildly losk and panicky about this project lately so I went to meet with Anne today. After our discussion, it is now clear to me that I'll be using some of the photographs I posted earlier as the basis of my interaction scenario (and potentially as part of my project as well). I had previously tought of using a simple storboard for the interaction scenario, so this change in medium means that I have quite a bit of work to do. Nevertheless I'm really excited about the way things are shaping up for the interaction scenario and for the project as a whole. To celebrate, I thought I'd post some rough beginnings of what I've been up to this afternoon. More (and new) pictures will be added to the final thing, but this is the beginning. The interaction scenario itself will be an online piece and will include more narrative as well as sound.

20081027

INTERACTION SCENARIO: EVEN MORE RAMBLING!

Up to now I was unsure of how to get the “property of” sign to fit on the installation, where it should be and what it might be made of. Usually when that happens I take it as a sign that I should drop the idea altogether. I had an illumination today, while browsing through old bookmarks when I'm desperate for inspiration.

This illumination, although brilliant, involves borrowing an idea, therefore I'm still not entirely sure I want to use it. It would also imply (yet another) a change in location for this project. Nevertheless.... Why not throw it out there. It's based on Joshua Allen Harris' inflatable sculptures. In case you haven't heard of them - they made quite a splash earlier this year – you can check them out below:

Since I've made it a point to only use materials that fit seamlessly with the homeless/street culture, the idea makes sense. Not only can these be made with recycled plastic bags, they also look like garbage when not inflated and are totally diy. Not only that, but they enhance the cold/warmth notion that I'm attempting to illustrate - who hasn't seen a homeless person warming up by sitting on the subway ventilation grids?

20081027

INTERACTION SCENARIO: MORE RAMBLING

Apologies for the lack of updates on this for the past few days. I've been thinking about and working on my intearction scenario, but I've found myself thinking quite a bit about the whole digital nomad in conjuction with the theme of digital shelter, in itself but also in relation to some of the readings and in relation to the direction my project is taking. Taking a step back has allowed me to make certain things clear, especially with regards to some of the motives behind the project I've come up with.

After reading the listed articles on how LBS has failed, it seems that the definition of LBS can be summed up as 'structures or systems used to map and or connect to one another'. Even though every project listed had failed to some degree, they might have opened the door for one to think about how similar activities might invite artistically-mediated interaction. However, it seems clear to me that any technology whose agenda is said to have clearly failed should be approached very cautiously. Should one choose to incorporate that type of technology in an art piece, then the technology needs to be repurposed. Otherwise, we need to simply push it aside. This might be difficult for the bunch of us, who who start watering at the mouth at the thought of any new gadget. Throughout the various states of confusion that I've been in since the beginning of the class, I believe I'm not wrong in thinking that there's a little something about the syllabus that can be read as a warning agaist using technology as art, rather than letting our artistic needs drive the technology used in a project.

I personally have a hard time with most mapping projects and with the idea that 'location' is not defined as anything more than a simple set of coordinates. Regardless of how these coordinates are output, they are still only coordinates. They do not tell any kind of story about the space itself. They are first and foremost quantitative, with a qualitative aspect slapped onto them in varying degrees of awkwardness. There is a disconnect between what is being questioned/looked at and how it is output, because it can only be measured. This is something I wanted to stay away from in my interpretation of digital shelter. I needed to work with a space that first had meaning in itself, and second a space that invited various interpretations, including but not limited to, notions that one can tie to digital shelter.

Since the beginning of the course I've gathered a bunch of keywords in one of the millions of little black books that can be found literring my entire apartment. At first these were just keywords. As ideas began to pop here and there, I began to explore some of these keywords in relation to their opposites. Those that stuck, and that relate the most to my project, are trust/fear, cold/warmth and one way/multidirectional.

20081014

INTERACTION SCENARIO: PHOTO ESSAY

20081003

ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATION RESEARCH

20080929

OBSERVATION 02: BERRI SQUARE

Monday September 29, 2008 - 15:25
What are you still doing here?

[who, what] CBC News reporter, camera man and truck (the kind with the huge retractable antenna that always has me wonder such a huge pillar could hide inside such a small truck). Druggies cycling along the grassy area, waiting. Clean cut kids looking around in a mildly guilty way. A kid with full left sleeve attempting a shove it to manual for ten minutes straight. Students kicking about a hacky sack at the top of the grassy area. The same street kids as this morning, sitting around, playing music, clapping their hands, dancing, enjoying themselves. A young lad wearing a Canadians tuque sleeping tight in a blue sleeping bag next to them. Random observers of all kinds, young and old, sitting aobut on the benches and pic nic tables (there's so many of these here now -- not sure where they came from). An old homeless guy picking up the garbage on the ground, dragging a garbage can around as he goes. A middle-aged man with black leather shorts and his Great Dane named Peter. Two old men in motorized wheelchairs.

[objects] Blankets. Guitar. Skateboard.

[flows, patterns] Even with the large amount of people around, the stillness of the place is only broken by the odd passer-by on his way to the subway. Odd groups that don't normally mix seem to co-habitate in this place.

20080929

OBSERVATION 01: BERRI SQUARE

Monday September 29, 2008 - 9:40
If I was to come into your home, you'd tell me to keep my shoes on.

[who, what] Street kids sleeping on the grass and on the benches, others going about their business as though the parc was their home. Elderly couple sipping a cup of coffee, the watered down type in the white cardboard cup straight from the gas station. A young lad reading. Old man going through garbage cans. Suits cutting through in a hurried pace to get to the streets. A sketchy shortcut. Teenagers in a rush to get to the subway. Tourists asking me to take their picture. Homeless lady selling red pens with a sad smile on her face. Druggies filling up for the morning run. Lots and lots of pigeons. STM security van. Ambulances zooming by, breaking the silent envelope of gloomy Monday morning.

[objects] Shopping carts. Bicycles. Sleeping bags. Books. Coffee cups.

[flows, patterns] For some, this place is a shortcut. For others, it is a home. Those who just wander about cling to the edges of the flat cement area. At this time of the day, where the morning rush has already passed, the main flow comes from the pigeons that sporadically take off in packs. The park is very still, barely awake.

20080929

OBSERVATION 03: MONT-ROYAL METRO

Monday September 29, 2008 - 14:50
An area in between a starting point and a destination.

[who, what] A John Lennon-looking young man reading, looking up every minute, clearly waiting for someone. The same two street kids as this morning, with the white dog, arguing about who's turn it is to hold the leash. Tiny kids going into the subway with instrument cases that are almost as big as them. A small amout of people with shopping bags, mostly women. A creepy-looking man all dessed in white, shaved head, round glasses, who seems to be there just to watch other people. A young black lady who bums a smoke off me. Three men who stop in front of the subway entrance to finish their cell phone conversation. Very little conversation and/or interaction between individuals.

[flows, patterns] Large flows coming out of the subway at intermittent frequencies. Incoming flows are generally from Mount Royal East, and outgoing flows come from the subway onto Mount Royal West.

20080929

OBSERVATION 02: MONT-ROYAL METRO

Monday September 29, 2008 - 10:30
Getting away rather than getting here. A time for leaving rather than a time for loitering.

[who, what] Commuters in a hurry to get wherever they are going. Lots of passing through, in and out. A young girl locking her bike and running into the metro. Those who sit down don't stay long. A black man talkng on the pay phone. Two street kids and a white dog meeting with others then taking off together. Construction workers yelling at one another. Joggers swiftly passing through. Old folks unsure where they're going. Cops in purple cammo pants walking out of the subway following a homeless guy that came running out screaming and waving his hands in the air. Tourists looking at maps and asking for directions. College kids waiting for the 97 East.

[objects] Usual traveling apparatus – backpacks, laptop cases, etc. Bikes. An acoustic guitar. A home-made sign that reads “Tarot readings – 25 cents!”

[flows, patterns] People in a hurry vs people that are very still.

20080928

OBSERVATION 01: MONT-ROYAL METRO

Sunday September 28, 2008 - 16:45
A place to do nothing while hanging onto the last hours of the weekend.

[who, what] Mostly younger people waiting for the bus listening to music. Kids chasing pigeons. Kids smoking cigarettes. Young people sipping coffee and reading, others chatting sitting in the steps. Middle-aged ladies passing through to cut to the streets north and south with their grocery bags. A colored individual eating Thai Express, sitting on the side of the grassy area. Lots of goodbyes, a quick kiss, a point of splitting paths. Hipsters and plateau types looking lonely when they don't travel in packs. Old man scavenging for cigarette butts and leftover food in the trash. A young man named Eric looking for weed (do I look like a dealer?). A black Lab walking his owner. Toddlers screaming as they are slowly pushed through onto Mount-Royal avenue.

[objects] Backpacks. Laptop cases. Shopping bags. Cell phones. iPods. Food. Cigarettes.

[flows, patterns] Lots of waiting, standing, sitting, leaving. Distinct pattern in flow: either pass through quickly (action has nothing to do with the area, merely a shortcut) or linger (seemingly) pointlessly.

[can, can't] Can... Litter, walk, bike through, talk, listen. Can't... Drive through, smoke inside, can't just leave cause are waiting for the bus

20080927

MAPS

20080923

DIGITAL SHELTER PROJECT: PART ONE

I think it might just be the first time, in my journey as a CART student, that a word limit is imposed on any given written assignment and that I have such difficulty respecting the prescribed directives. Not because I lack the ability to synthesize my thoughts; rather, given the complexity of the issues that are raised, five hundred words seems like torture. I don't feel that the final text I produced accurately reflected what I had to say. Although I don't think I'm supposed to say that out loud... After spending hours and hours skimming everything I had intended to include, here is final version number thirty-four.

20080916

DEFINING 'SHELTER'

Shelter is… Safety, the familiar, a home, a refuge, something we invest into, family, relationships.

Shelter is… Hiding, protection, cover, beneath, behind, inside.

20080916

SOME RANDOM KEYWORDS AND CONCEPTS.

User-generated/user-maintained; Blurring of boundaries;
Relation between physical and digital;
Editability;
Connectability;
Contours;
Mapping of errors;
Participant’s relationship to data;
Narrative elements designed to make sense in any sequence;
Holding open the discontinuities between urban space and the invisible layer of media floating above it.

20080914

NOTES ON READING: LOCATIVE VISCOSITY (LILY SHIRVANEE)

Shirvanee, Lily. “Locative Viscosity: Traces Of Social Histories In Public Space,” Leonardo Electronic Almanac, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2006.

INTRO

• Viscosity: physical deformations of a locative media can lead to social deformations of space
• Benjamin: state of distraction and disconnectedness of contemporary urban life
• Thickness in space: likages between people using external artefacts through which strangers and non-strangers leave traces of themselves and communicate desires, anxieties and histories in shared places

LOCATIVE MEDIA

• metaphorical expression representing a set of connections;
• descriptive term for information and devices associated with a physical location and/or one another
• media that actively creates and senses a reciprocal awareness between people and their environment, merging various types of information and media within the limits of specific geographic space

SOCIAL VISCOSITY

• flow with layers that move at different velocities
• the denser the fluid, the greater its resistance to opposing forces and the more rapidly it becomes balanced
• social viscosity: emergent collective activity in social groups

CONCEPTIONS OF PUBLIC SPACE Fundamental changes in people's relationships to space, as the very definitions of public and private space have been changed with the contemporary ease of motion through space;

• Henri Lefebvre: space as a social phenomenon
• Notion of public space and notion of public and private have shifted in definition following changes based on contemporary ease of motion (trains, automobiles, etc.)
• public place becomes place of movement, pass-through areas
• activities within specific types of spaces have changed
• Kevin Lynch ('The Image of the City'):
• how people imagine themselves in their cities
• moving elements are as important as stationary physical parts
• people create memories and meanings in spaces where they've had long associations
• an attachement forms wherever people reshape their surroundings and beome participants

SOCIAL HISTORIES AND PUBLIC SPACE
Notion of territory, emergence of a certain collectivity based on signs and symbols appropriated by a subculture; pervasiveness and dissemination of the campaigns that rely on symbols that are mobile and non permanent, potential for evolution

20080914

NOTES ON READING: MOBILE SOCIAL SOFTWARE (JENNIFER THOM-SANTELLI)

Thom-Santelli, Jennifer. “Mobile Social Software: Facilitating Serendipity or Encouraging Homogeneity?” IEEE Pervasive Computing, July-September 2007, pp. 46-51.

INTRO

• Broadcasting of user’s location
• Environment: the city – because of density of population
• Idealized category of users (persona) is privileged in development of technology and used as reference point
• Importance of the arts in altering the closed loop created by the idealized user through
• critical awareness of what goes into and out of the systems
• interventions that respond to the user’s needs while allowing for more than strictly that
• providiing a flexible interpretation which leaves room for unexpected users and methods of use

CONFIGURING THE IDEAL USER

• Technological artifacts reflect and reinforce social structures
• Users appropriate technologies in ways that designers had not anticipated
• Danger that the designer consciously or unconsciously constrains the use of a technology by envisionning limited set of actions overly guided by an imaginated target user
• Persona: concept with strengths and weaknesses:
• S: Created through user research (through interviews, questionaires, observation) – who people say they are in interviews and questionaires is not necessarily the ‘truth’ but more like an objectification of what they would like to be or what they think others would like them to be
• S: Helps minimize an unconscious conception of the user
• W: Target user is often a type with which the designer is familiar or who resembles them
• W: Test scenarios are often too resonant with target group and guarantee a measure of success, results in constraining the notion of what the experience w/ technology should be like and to whom the system is meaningful (eMoto example)
• Teenagers and students have taken up mobile social software most avidly
• does this statistic come as a result of a certain group having picked up an avaiable technology that suited their needs, or because the technology was designed in a way that would only suit their needs and not those of others?

SEEKING OTHERS ‘JUST LIKE ME’

• Limiting system’s potential appropriation by using restrictive selection criteria (eg, Dodgeball)
• categorization of people in buddy lists and speculating on individual tastes based on places they have visited (personal emotional attachement to space used to negotiate another type of emotional attachement, on an person-to-person level – what does this say about location/environment?)
• The city’s diversity becomes less celebrated as users seek out homogenous experiences that the software’s design facilitates (homophily - tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others)
• the concept of homophily is also relevant when interpreted through the notion of shelter – shelter as security, the familiar, what is trusted; how we come to trust things depends on each individual, however we can’t ignore that the generations that were raised with mobile social systems at their fingertips seem more prone to put their trust in what ‘others just like them’ think
• Selective aspects encourage homophily to the point that serendipitous interactions are only really possible with people whose interests are probably similar to yous, at locations that others just like you have preapproved

ENCOURAGING HETEROGENOUS URBAN EXPERIENCES
Prototyping a system by carring out interventions with nonusers and resisters helps understand the motivations of a group that is not the typical type

• Understanding the motivations of nonusers and resisters leads to the consideration of other user groups
• Using prototypes as interventions to provoke a different type of user experience that highlights uncomfortable aspects of the urban experience and produces critical reflexion
• Interventions can be carried out with different user type than the typical one
• Allowing unexpected users to take up a technological system by designing it in a way that allows for multiple levels of interpretation

MOVING BEYOND THE TYPICAL USER
Integrating nonusers and resisters to a specific system opens the door to new potential for that system

• Questioning the boundaries and definitions of the user
• A technology’s acceptance is in large part negociated by its resisters and nonusers
• Incorporating resisters’ objections into system design allows for economic and political opportunities (eg, Ford model T)

DRAWING FROM CRITICAL PRACTICE AND TACTICAL INTERVENTION
Asking difficult questions, such as whom a certain system might ignore, is an important part of the process of uncovering potential political ramifications and of painting an accurate picture of nonusers and resisters.

• Overly simplified vision of the urban experience provided by mobile social software which favors a type of space that values entertainment
• Gentrification example
• Arts-inspired design practices can help to widen the range of spaces that mobile social software associates itself with
• Design noir (Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby): satisfying darker human needs (deception, fear) to draw attention to the limitations of electronic systems that focus only on well-being and satisfaction
• Tactical internventions: deployment of a real-world design that subverts, challenges and renegociates accepted meanings and existing power structures to expose social, political and cultural questions that an engineering-based practice of system design might not explore
• Other locative media-related concepts: shelter and storage needs of those who reside on the streets (Homeless Vehicle project)

LEVERAGING HOMOPHILY FOR DIVERSITY
Starting out with a diverse group different than the typical type, and using existing social relationships as building blocks to pass on information about specific technological systems reduces the risk of producing resisters and nonusers

• Using snowball sampling to find groups of users beyond the configured target group
• Starting out with a group that is not the typical type
• Ensuring a diverse seed group: AIR project, passing on the device to people they know after 24h
• By operating in the context of an existing social relationship, the procedure lessens the fear of the all-knowing experimenter
• Other locative media-related concepts: AIR projects provides a way for urban residents to reflect on their surroundings

DESIGNING FOR MULTIPLE INTERPRETATIONS
Supporting usability, not constraining use

• Designing with enough flexibility to encourage multiple levels of interpretation and to let multiple meanings emerge as users appropriate the technology encourages unexpected stakeholders to take up mobile social software in ways the designers did not originally expect (TXTmob project)
• Lifting restrictions on the type of urban location that’s worthy of review by letting users finely control what they believe are meaningful locations (Yellowarrow project)
• ascribing meaning to ephemera
• encouraging a microlevel representation of the city that lets urban residents contribute their expertise of locations that aren’t just sites of consumption

CONCLUSION

• Because of the critical and provocative nature of the arts, technology designers should not forget…
• the importance of questioning the social and political implications of the technologies
• the importance of adressing controversial and problematic issues surrounding consumption or gentrification rather than simply forucing on poetics and aesthetics to challenge the users into an alternate conception of what a city can be and to recognize that current systems might reinforce a limited view of the urban experience
• that their choices have lasting political consequences in the power geometrics that form(gentrification)

20080903

ABOUT ME.

I am an undergraduate student in Computation Arts (Specialization) at Concordia University. My background includes training in painting and drawing, illustration, design and photography, while my current focus is on electronics and physical computing with a strong interest in electronic textiles. I feel I’ve finally found my home within this intriguing field where art meets technology, and hope to pursue studies in a related discipline following my BFA at Concordia. I have had the privilege of working as a research assistant to Joey Berzowska over the summer, and hope to continue the work in progress throughout the academic year. I also coordinate and maintain a webzine/event production organization with a staff of twenty-two. Spare time is an unknown concept in my world.

Given my traditional studio arts background, I felt rather out of place during my first year in this program. That all changed last year, when I discovered the fascinating world of electronics. In the upcoming semesters, I’m kicking myself outside of my comfort zone and focusing on disciplines and practices that I have neglected slightly, most of which relate to sound and programming.

I enrolled in this class hoping that it would be my little treat this semester. Notions of body vs space and interaction design seemed particularly relevant to the theme of the nomad, and seemed to allow the possibility of prototyping wearables. Given the introduction we had this week, I’m thinking there’s definitely room for that!