Just yesterday I was kvetching over my disatisfaction at my devolving plan for mapping a gesture, and hoping that the Information Ecosystem would provide the answer.
And today, I think it has! I remember thinking of breathing but not sure how I could possibly detect the lungs inflating. But it's the breath, as in out, stupid. You just catch that wind flow and you're set!
This came about because of a meeting I had with Joachim Sauter. I showed him the web version and asked advice on turning it into an installation, as it seems the obvious and appropriate place to take it.
In a nutshell, he said
simply mapping information transfer to carbon dioxide transfer because they're related is pretty weak
you've got to have some meaning behind it
lots of people create alternate ways of displaying RSS
its sort of like an intellectual Tamagotchi
On the positive side, he liked the idea and the visualization I created (particularly this one), and completely lit up when I gave my admittedly poetic spiel about experiencing information breathed from a human, filtered through a plant and back to a human. About experiencing the echo of someone else's thought as interpreted by a plant. I didn't even get to plug the Co2 is code thing, because as soon as I said "breath" he had an "Aha" moment and showed me his digital Talmud.
And thats the answer right there. In his project they have expensive sensors able to discern direction and strength of air flow, but he said a microphone hidden in the plant could do the trick for me. Since the approach is so clearly derived from another project I wonder if its still valid, though the fact that there is still so much to work out makes me think it could still be worthwhile.
For instance, I need to figure out how a plant would change information filtered through its system. I might be able to apply this psuedo-scientifically by studying the carbon dioxide transfer process in a plant more deeply, or else take a thematic approach and examine the significance of filters in nature and the internet. The other major issue is to come up with a reasonable source of information. I could easily plug in any number of RSS feeds, but I need to think of a source that would be meaningful. Utilizing the participants' own ideas would make the most sense, especially if they were integrated with those of earlier participants, but how can I get ahold of those personal thoughts in the first place?
I'd like to avoid putting people through a survey, or having them enter information manually, as I appreciate the elegance of breathing as the gesture, and breath as the medium, so I'll need to focus on those two issues if i go ahead with this project instead of the othersI'mconsidering.