5 - Idat 210 - Proposal

Negotiated Project Proposal

Overview

Navigation would be a keystroke or a mouse click from page to page moving our way gradually getting to the final page. It could be knowing which page you want to go to and typing in its address getting there instantly or it could be a more indirect route via a search engine. While real world navigation could be a physical movement to a destination directly by walking, controlling your every turn and movement. It could be getting on a bus or train, obviously you know where it is going but you have no real control over how it gets to the destination.
This is what I plan to explore through this project work.

Keywords

- Interface

- Environment

- Journey

- Key Logging

- Social Networking
-Mapping
http://gavinjonesidat.blogspot.com/2008/12/idat-107-gps-data.html

Context (Research)

Navigation and journeys have been mapped in many ways over the years, now with new technologies it has become a lot easier for everyone to get their hands on navigational equipment. Mobile phones now come equipped with GPS and even internet browsers making digital journeying on the move possible. A lot of thought has gone into the development of navigation techniques for both computer and real world situations, with sat-nav for cars and search engines making it easier to find that illusive site and information online.
Computer navigation has developed a lot since the invention of the mouse in the early 60’s, they are now wire-less and are even in-built into laptops making navigation easy from your fingertips. Inventors have even built a mouse to be used by your feet. These deviations from normal ideologies of navigation are interesting aspects to explore.

Field leaders (Inspiration)

One of my influences is Bruce Branit, His video “World Builder” is about a man who creates a world for the woman he loves. It looks into virtual reality, Interfaces and augmented virtual reality. I really enjoy watching this video; it really makes me think about the connections between virtual reality and reality, using very clever elements such as sounds and visual signals to make it seem even more real.
Another Influence is Jeremy Wood who created drawings on a map and set out to recreate them using a GPS, drawing many things from animals to words using the formations of roads and buildings. It is an interesting to use a technology which is usually used to study journeys through physical space as a creative medium. GPS allows you to create digital representation of a physical journey making a direct link between a journey and technology.

Implementation (Platform e.g. video, installation etc)

I have had quite a few ideas of how to explore my chosen subject. One is a projectoral sculpture involving projecting multiple journeys onto glass planes while mapping a GPS journey through the glass planes using lasers and mirrors, the lasers would show up using some form of smoke machine. The journey would become a convergence of a digital and physical journey shown in a compact environment.
My second idea is using my exploration of the way we move through digital space using certain technologies i.e. the different forms of mouse. I want to change the way we experience the space making it more of an experience rather than just a thing we do. This could be creating a new form of keyboard or creating a physical mouse. One idea is creating a human hamster ball and turning it into a computer mouse enabling you to move the cursor while moving yourself. This idea truly combines a journey with a computing experience.
The last idea I had is visually flatter, using key Logging I was thinking of taking in the used keys off a computer over a week. Giving each key a direction and line length I plan to create a piece of generative art. I then plan to over lay the final outcome onto a map, and walk the journey the created, taking photos as I walk visually mapping the journey using imagery.
I really need to slim down my ideas and choose one to go forward with, this will be done through further exploration of ideas.