Projects:
Collaborative Member and DJ for:
VIS 147B: Final Write Up on Radio Free UCSD
Recording/Sound Projects:
grow alice!
Electronic Projects:
Data Visualizations:
privatize your head IN ACTION!
Privatize Your Head from Trevor LeVieux on Vimeo.
Privatize your Head!
This project in progress explores the ways in which networked technologies may be used to create socially engaged artwork and activate public space. It is being made in a group for the class Electronic Technologies for Art Part 2: Social Technologies.
Using the UC budget crisis as our target social issue, we are building a mobile talking head. The head shouts taunting and satirical statements provoking thought, confusion, and consideration about how the budget crisis will effect the individual student.
Our final goal is to run the talking head through classrooms, main walkways (library walk), Price Center and the Geisel Library to disturb/interact with the space and hopefully, provoke some thought from individuals. The audio samples are a mix of political references and satire. One voice is Utopian in nature, posing a sort of big brother/no need to think attitude that reflects some students complacency of the issue. Another sample uses voices from everyone in the group which is confusing coming from a single head. We believe that the change in voices will grab people’s attention even more than a head driving around :)
Technical Information:
The Head (from the bottom up)
Remote control car, shoe box, mannequin head, green LED eyes, speaker, megaphone.
Inside the Shoe box
Arduino with Xbee Shield (to communicate wirelessly)
Arduino with Adafruit Waveshield containing five audio samples
(http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17_21&products_id=94)
Audio Samples
If you wanna pay for an education, go to prison.
Please disperse, there is nothing to learn here.
Fear not, your education is in the state’s hands.
EXCUSE ME!
Privatize your head, privatize your head, privatize your head.
Talking Head Wireless Remote Control
Arduino with Xbee Shield paired with Xbee inside shoe box communicates the following controls
Controls
-Megaphone on/off
-Siren on/off
-Pulse Width Modulation between the megaphone and siren (by relay switch in head)
-LED eyes blinking speed potentiometer AND randomize button
-Choose Sample Potentiometer
-Play Sample
-Remote Control on/off
Talking Head Wireless Remote Control
Arduino with Xbee Shield paired with Xbee inside shoe box communicates the following controls
Controls
-Megaphone on/off
-Siren on/off
-Pulse Width Modulation between the megaphone and siren (by relay switch in head)
-LED eyes blinking speed potentiometer AND randomize button
-Choose Sample Potentiometer
-Play Sample
-Remote Control on/off
The Early Morning Music Box is a digital/analog child of the music box of old. Instead of having metal pins that rotate and are plucked by metal strips, the Early Morning Music Box uses infrared light to trigger sounds in Pd.
The concept of the piece addresses the re-usability of electronics and other objects. Electronic waste and overall junk waste is a continuing problem, environmentally and socially. Environmentally electronic waste pollutes water supplies, air quality and can have negative health effects on the user (ex. the plastics used to house the electronics.) Socially, environmental racism with electronic waste dumps, factory worker injustice (as inspired by Maquilapolis) and capitalist consumerism.
The construction of this piece was to explore the relationship between wonderful analog user interaction with the hand crank and digital technology with IR sensors.
-There are two separate components of the box: the rotating cylinder with 8 IR LED emitters and stationary 4 IR LED detectors. Here is a diagram for how this project is structured.
IR LED Emitter —> IR LED detector —> pduino with pd patched added
Sounds simple right? Well..not so much. It turns out the rotating cylinder and the stationary detectors function separately but not together. I believe the problem is that the phototransistors are not getting enough voltage. I will continue to work on this project in hopes of some analog driven digital music.
Materials: 8 Infrared LED Emitters (salvaged from old remote controls) 4 Infrared LED Detectors (sadly purchased new) Clear Tube (purchased new but licorice was inside :D ) Cigar Box (used from thrift store) Hand crank (taken from old hand crank egg beater, from thrift store) Cardboard box (old thank you card box)
**click on images for more info**
Early Morning Music Box Screenshots:
Pduino (an interface between Arduino and Pure Data) reads digital inputs from the arduino to trigger oscillators.
Infrared Light Emitter schematic (on the rotating cylinder)
-8 LED Parallel Circuit, 100 Ohm resistance
Pduino with added Pd programming to trigger sounds when infrared light is detected
Infrared Phototransistor current schematic
-4 LEDs, 10K resistance, too much resistance
Infrared Phototransistor new resistance schematic IN PROGRESS
-4 LEDs, 47 Ohms, soon to be modified
HARMACY
In keeping with one of the principles of Derrida’s deconstructionist method, we aimed to help introduce doubt regarding the current health care debate. Actually, we were trying to introduce some doubt of the doubt that has taken center stage. Specifically we are reminding people that although a majority of the American population wants universal heath care, it does not seem likely to be part of health care reform that will be voted on by congress. When people without health insurance get sick they first head to the drug store crossing their fingers that it isn’t something “serious.” And if over the counter remedies don’t do the trick, then perhaps the harmaceutical industry can cash in.
Essentially we made 5 separate messages, each individually affixed to a magnet/battery/LED: a throwie. On 10-4-09 we strategically placed our messages in 4 separate drug stores in the San Diego area: Rite Aid in Hillcrest and Little Italy, and CVC Pharmacy in North Park and Hillcrest. One set of 5 messages was distributed per location. The location of Drug stores was chosen for their role in the health care industry: the front lines of health care. The LEDs serve as attention grabbers which alert consumers to our “product,” which is a free idea. The intended immediate effects of our action is to pause people for a moment, and have them contemplate health care as they shop inside a drug store/pharmacy/harmacy. The hope is that these thoughts will linger in people’s mind after they leave the location.
We are helping plant a seed in the collective consciousness that might work in conjunction with other efforts, quickening a collective catharsis. In this view, citizens would be primed and ready for a call to action. Perhaps congress will one day soon feel the collective pressure of millions demanding universal health care with the threat of loosing their congressional seats to other members of their political parties who do support universal coverage.
WHAT:
30 years of “bitch” in Life Magazine is a Word Cloud visualization exploring the usage of the word “bitch” with relation to other words in the same sentence. For example, in the first image “bitch” is the most common word thus it is the largest. Second most commonly used word is “son” then “black” and “little.”
The second visualization utilizes the Word Tree function featured on ManyEyes. This interactive piece allows the user to zoom in on the sentence where “bitch” is used.
WHY:
The visualization explores how sex and gender roles permeate major forms of media even through many decades laden with social change. (i.e. post Women’s Rights Movement, Civil Rights Movement, First Wave and Second Wave Feminism)
30 years of “bitch” challenges the viewers perspective of how sex, gender, and language are connected in commonly used slang. Using LIFE Magazine as a data source reveals how popular media is a major tool in the success of sexist genderist language.
HOW:
Data was collected using the search option in Google Books. Each sentence that featured “bitch” was added to a data table then finally uploaded to ManyEyes (http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/) where the final visualization was made.
interactive visualizations:
http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/riney_project2_a
grow alice! a sonic exploration of banjo & vocals
*click on title to hear song
“grow alice” is a piece exploring the possibilities of using a minimum amount of source material to create a multi-layered song/soundscape. The piece was an extension of a song that I wrote a year ago that was inspired by a passage in “Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland.” The song is played on the banjo and all sounds are sampled from two tracks, a banjo track and a vocal track.
The piece brings in the theme of growing and shrinking as featured in the “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” with the use of pitch shifting and multiple types of reverb. The whimsical and fantastical essence of the story is depicted by ambient and psychedelic sounds that come in and out as they are layered to create continuity.
The vocal samples featured were selected for their musical compatibility and contextual meaning.
Programs used:
Ableton Live, Audacity and Soundplant.
All the programs were connected using Soundflower making it easier to reassign inputs/outputs.
Milaad
VIS 147B: Final Write Up on Radio Free UCSD
Cairn Riney
Radio Free UCSD
http://radiofreeucsd.blogspot.com/ 
What and Why?
Radio Free UCSD is a student run online and FM broadcasted radio station. The online stream can be found on the blog and the station broadcast can be found on the approximate frequency of 88.5 FM. (Sometimes 88.6) Broadcasting over FM came from the idea of taking back our right to public space but instead of space, airwaves. The radio station creates a true public space, without the influence of the university or government at large. We can say what we want and not live by rules of censorship.
As stated in the “about” section on the blog, Radio Free UCSD is an
“open platform for criticism and discussion around the intersections of the current financial crisis and toxic campus climate [among other current issues]. We believe that thought outside the bureaucratic system is most effective in initiating action on behalf of the people instead of capitalist interest. We oppose the privatization of the university and aim to give voice to those who have and will become disenfranchised by the university’s actions….”
The basis of this project was to create a space for people’s voices that were not being heard in the current educational movement and the fight against systematic racism, sexism, and homophobia at UCSD and other California universities.
The creation of an open platform became even more essential as the hegemonic structure of certain groups at UCSD blatantly overlooked individual voices. In order to provide an open platform Radio Free is accessible by calling from any phone and recording a voicemail to Google Voice, on Skype to have a live on-air conversation, and by having an email where any and all opinions can be shared.
How?
Radio Free UCSD is broadcasted from a low power transmitter, ~1W and a dipole antenna. The transmitter was borrowed from a friend who had built it ten years ago in high school. Sadly, there was not enough time in a day to build our own but we plan on building one over 10W and a couple more 1W in hopes of daisy chaining them around campus. A diagram for the current transmitter can be found here:
http://anarchy.k2.tku.ac.jp/anarchy98/radio/micro/fmtxdiagram.gif
Once we had the transmitter we then had to tune it to the frequency 88.5 which was the most unused low frequency around UCSD. We chose a low frequency because lower frequencies can be broadcasted farther and clearer.
This particular transmitter is tuned by three high precision tunable coils. 
The number of wraps around the coil determines the broadcast frequency, for exampleto tune to 76-88 MHZ (going left to right) coil A has 8.5 turns, B has 5.5 turns and C has 5.5 turns (as shown on the transmitter diagram). The coils are super sensitive and after trying the aforementioned 8.5/5.5/5.5 without success, we resorted to tuning the transmitter by ear with a radio as reference.
Next we needed an antenna. Considering our low power operation and transitory setup, we needed an antenna that was simple and easy to move around. So after much research on dipole antenna construction, a simple formula was found to calculate wavelength and frequency to tune the antenna to 88.5MHz. 
The antenna is constructed out of 16G copper wire, plexiglass, coaxial cable and PVC pipe.
The radiating elements (copper wire) were calculated to be 2.67ft each, with a total length of 5.3ft. The center insulator is a small piece of plexiglass, cut to separate the two elements and the end insulators are PVC pipe caps. Once the two elements were cut and threaded through two holes in the plexiglass, the coaxial cable was connected. Coaxial cable, under the insulation is a single copper core wire that is surrounded by copper mesh netting. The single copper wire is the ground and the netting is power. So the single copper wire was soldered to one element, and the mesh netting was soldered to the other element. Then it was threaded into the PVC pipe, with a hole drilled for the coaxial cable to run to the transmitter. The antenna was then taped to a ladder vertically to radiate east/west.
The general setup for broadcasting goes as follows:
ANTENNA (with NO coils in the coaxial, this creates interference) —> TRANSMITTER (mono RCA) —> MIXER —> SOUND SOURCES (iPod/Computers/Mics)
**One more output from the mixer is sent to a separate computer that streams online via the UC Rebel Radio server using NiceCast.
Another subject to mention in this How section is organization. Radio Free UCSD is a collective based on democratic consensus. Before Radio Free was agreed to be a collective, much of the organizing came from me. Not to put myself on a pedestal or claim myself the sole founding mother of 88.5FM, I just need to express the complexity and time consuming process of communicating and organizing people together. Considering everyone involved had class everyday and papers/midterms/projects due simultaneously, this was a crazy idea. Especially because we hoped to broadcast and stream by March 4th and our first meeting was Feb. 28th. Needless to say, the core members of the group (then 5 people) slept around 3-4 hours every night up until March 4th. We met in the morning before class (with copious amounts of coffee), went to class, met after class and stayed out until 3am or 4am (finding broadcasting spots/experimenting with the broadcast etc etc), then repeated the process. By March 4th we were exhausted but SO excited because we finished and were ruling the airwaves and interweb. We broadcasted March 4th 10am-5pm, announcing news updates, reading political essays, receiving phone calls about current happenings at UCSD, and calls of solidarity from other universities. Also, on March 3rd, a couple members of the collective drove up to Vista to an EWaste recycling center and picked up 9 radios which we spray painted with FREE UCSD and setup around campus. Of course, some of the radios didn’t end up working but they served as a sort of attention-getter/flyer.
This station continues on, with shows almost every day Mon-Fri, with potential for a fixed studio location and larger broadcasting zone.
