... make an installation, in a public/urban setting (like a street, public square, etc) that has to be interesting enough so as to rise people's curiosity and attract them, and then involve them in a social game. the interaction between the people and the installation should be wireless and digital (smartphones), but the result will (hopefully) be a direct and "analog" interaction between the partcipants.
i have not yet decided how the installation will look like, i have many ideas and will choose by later on by feasability, cost, interest, etc. i know it will have output devices to engage the senses - especially sight and hearing. by that i mean: lights, text, video, sound, music. voice.
to participate in the game, a person should need only his smartphone. at first i thought that users would need to install an app to participate, but then i saw
THIS,
and it opened the possibility of using TWEETS or text messages (SMS).
the concept has remained quite loyal to this original proposal.
it still is an installation, it will look something like this:
a box with "hearing tubes" protruding from it.
inside the box will be electronics and speakers and maybe an LCD display.
each speaker will be attached to one tube.
each hearing bell will have a different color.
there will be a barcode linking to a site explaining the "rules of the game".
the tweets will include a color and a message of maybe up to 3-5 words.
the installation will do the following:
poll for tweets sent to a specific TWITTER user, like e.g.: @ihearyou
convert the text to speech.
"speak" the voice message to the correspondingly colored hearing tube.
"speak" the name of the sender.
who's done what beforehand?
interactive installations
there are alot of those, here are some examples of installations i liked:
i didn't think of twitter at first. i thought i could somehow either collect SMS text messages or build a web site where people would go into and fill some questionnaire or online form.
then i found this:
while gooling the subject, and decided that TWITTER was the way to go, since it required the minimum effort from passers-by.
it was a commercial teaser installation in india, and it gave me the idea of using twitter!
the advantages of twitter over other communication options
there is no need to install anything, or open any browser, or pay for an SMS message.
it is almost ubiquitous, you just need a smartphone, and it's almost certain already installed.
most people understand it's interface.
it is a communication tool, unlike e.g. a web site.
the TLIGHT installation uses PARAIMPU to poll the tweets.
PARAIMPU
is a platform that enables people to connect "things"/services/devices/etc.,
part of it is known as "the internet of things" or "the web of things", but more on that later.
the hand of pi, on the other hand :-), polls the tweets directly by running a python script that accesses twitter's API (or Application Programming Interface), see an explanation at
how-stuff-works site.
that's the approach that i'm going to use too, if all goes as planned.
speech synthesis and TTS
there are basically two ways to do speech synthesis, or "text-to-speech" (TTS):
hardware
software
i decided to go the software way - much cheaper and accessible.
the tool to be used is
FESTIVAL, a linux Speech Synthesis System.
you can check how its sounds
here, just type some text and hit PLAY. it works under LINUX, which is good :-)
electronics to send the sound to the corresponding speaker
a dozen speakers
a wood box
a dozen 50mm (2") flexible tubes of about 1m length
a dozen "hearing bells" done by vacuum forming
a battery or a power supply unit
all sort of cables
nuts & bolts. etc
printed instructions and barcode
where will they come from?
raspi and wi-fi dongle - had to buy
speakers - hope to find enough old PC etc speakers
wood box - done at the lab using the SHOPBOT or the LASER cutter, depending on availability
flexible tubes - used and surplus material
hearing bells - done at the lab
battery or power supply - scavenged (from old PC or such)
cables, nuts, bolts, etc - fab, home
how much will it cost?
raspi - $35
wi-fi dongle - $9.50
what parts and systems will be made?
hardware
PCB to distribute sound to the speakers
the wood box
the hearing bells
software
the twitter polling script
the speech synthesis input and output scripts
what processes will be used?
PCB - design in eagle, gcode in fabmodules, milling in the sherling nachine, soldering
wood box - design in AUTOCAD, cut in SHOPBOT or LASER cutter
hearing bells - design in AUTOCAD/RHINO, mold in SHOPBOT, final product by VACUUM FORMING
barcode - vinyl cutter
twitter API script - PYTHON
TTS script to call the FESTIVAL program - PYTHON
what tasks need to be completed?
i have already bought the raspi, installed the operating system (debian lynux), and made the OUTPUT device assignment in it to get some hands-on
experience with it.
i started learning the python scripts that i will be using for the twitter API interface and for the TTS program.
other than that, more or less everything )-:
the wood box
the hearing bells. the bell that i made with fiberglass was too big, i will be making smaller ones by Vacuum Forming.
the sound distributing electronics
what questions need to be answered?
the sound (speech) distributing electronics is the only thing i still haven't started to research.
in a worst case scenario where i don't manage to solve that part, i can still operate a couple of speakers directly from the raspi.
what is the schedule?
this week and next week - finish the software part (twitter + TTS), electronics
last week - hearing bells and wood box, assembly
how will it be evaluated?
i think the goal of the installation is to engage passers-by in a game that will create direct interactions between them and other people,
both friends and strangers, and also make them smile, maybe laugh and generally have a good time.
that should be the reference by which to judge the project's success.
2013
