Archive for September, 2009


Communications Lab: Week 4 — Response to “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

Monday, Sep 28th, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Communications Lab, Education, ITP

I’ll start off by saying that I’m not sure why in the Preface Walter Benjamin makes a reference to Fascism. The early political reference gets me thinking that this is a political essay, rather than an essay about the changing nature of the relationship between art and audience.
In part I, Benjamin writes about the reproduction [...]

Phys Comp: Week 3 - Electronics

Saturday, Sep 26th, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Education, General Discussion, ITP, Intro to Physical Computing

This week, our Phys Comp lab consisted of combining several previous labs plus the addition of using our multimeters to check the current of electricity. Checking the flow of electricity is something I’ll need to get used to doing, starting with just learning how to read the multimeter dial and learning to choose between A/C [...]

ICM: Week 2 - Using variables and interactivity in Processing

Thursday, Sep 24th, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Education, General Discussion, ITP, Intro to Computing Media | Tags: , ,

This week, I used the same concept from last week but I used variables to reduce the amount of code I was drawing. I also added an interactive element. Now, when you use your mouse to move left to right across the screen, the background changes from 255 (white) to 0 (black). The alpha level [...]

Comm Lab: Week 2 - Reaction to “Orality and Literacy” (Ch. 1-2)

Tuesday, Sep 22nd, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Art & Culture, Communications Lab, Education, ITP | Tags:

(Note: in starting the class late, I haven’t had time to finish week 1’s readings, but they will be posted in due time.)
In reading the first two chapters of Orality and Literacy, I can’t help but think of a time in which I’ve come across the topic of oral and written language. The first was [...]

Comm Lab: Week 2 (and week 1) - Reaction to Xacti camera, in-class assignment

Tuesday, Sep 22nd, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Communications Lab, Education, ITP

I just so happened to come across the video of another Comm Lab student, Alexandra Kuechenberg et al, which is posted on her elegant blog. The video here is basically a loop of four people participating in leap frog.
Well, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to comment, but it does seem interesting that it took [...]

Phys Comp: Week 2 - Analog sensors, Part 2

Monday, Sep 21st, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Education, General Discussion, ITP, Intro to Physical Computing

This week’s assignment consisted of coming up with a fantasy device, and possibly going crazy using analog sensors. I did both.
First up: the UV-Sunlight watch. This watch detects how much sunlight you’ve received. The benefit to the wearer is that during winter months, you’ll know when you haven’t gotten enough sunlight, and during the summer [...]

Response to “The Machine Ends” by E.M. Forster

Monday, Sep 21st, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Communications Lab, Education, ITP

Written in 1909, “The Machine Stops” is about a futuristic society in which humanity lives underground and is dependent entirely upon the Machine, which has taken over the entire maintenance and care of all human needs. It describes how people have given up control of their own freedom to exert free will, in exchange for [...]

Phys Comp: Week 2 - Analog sensors, Part 1

Monday, Sep 21st, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Education, General Discussion, ITP, Intro to Physical Computing, Technology

This week we worked with analog sensors.
For the lab, I was able to correctly set up the breadboard, Arduino, and potentiometer to create my first analog input. I documented along the way.

Then I made a two-input analog switch with two LEDs as output. Here’s the code:
int ledPinGreen = 10; // Green pin
int ledPinRed = 9; [...]

Cool devices I wish I’d thought of first

Sunday, Sep 20th, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Creativity, Technology | Tags: ,

So, an assignment in one of my classes this week has been to come up with a fantasy device, that does something you’ve always wanted. I’ve always wanted a unicorn, but our assignment says we have to come up with some type of physical manifestation for this fantasy device. Unicorn-maker sounds a bit outside the [...]

Comm Lab: Week 2 — My (short) Tree Museum visit

Thursday, Sep 17th, 2009 by Allison Walker | 0 Comments
Filed under: Communications Lab, Education, ITP | Tags: ,

This week, one of my assignments was to head to the Bronx to check out the Tree Museum, a public art project by Katie Holten. By name only, this sounds like it actually might be kind of interesting. I visited the Bronx Botanical Gardens last summer (2008) and I was thoroughly impressed. Everyone should go [...]

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