Complexity in Simplicity

I like to work to deadline. I like to be figuring it out right up until the last second. For some this only causes panic and anxiety. Some procrastinate to the point where it becomes so overwhelming they can't even contemplate doing it any more.

I hope that I don't make myself into one of their number.

But as I reach the end of the year, and most projects are finished, save for some loose ends, I have somehow made things that are perhaps simple a little complicated. Not to the point of un-doable, but to the point that if most people had left it to this point they would be panicking.

For instance, as there has been no deadline for Interactive Exhibit Design I am still working on the electronic portion and the write-up. I have outlined on my website all the aspects of the project I intend to write about, but it is alarmingly blank at the moment.

And since I am still working on this I will have to make sure that I make at least one more trip to London this summer to return all of the electronics (and book) that I am still working with.

I will finish, or get as far as I can before I get stuck, since I think this may be one of the more useful things in my portfolio whichever direction my future career takes, and because I would really love to see this work.

For my internship I am working with the Simcoe County Museum this year. This may be not all I am doing, but I will keep people posted about this (maybe something with the R.O.M - not internship-y really, or with L'Anse aux Meadows) but I have been waiting to solidify this internship for several months. I have come to the conclusion that the Simcoe County Museum has never had an intern before, at least not under the current administration, and so they just did not have the ability to confirm this. It is feeling a little more solid now, though I do get the impression that I am forging new territory.

In addition, adding a little more complexity, I went over today to make appointments to talk to people at the museum and it looks like they would like to do some oral histories. That is really exciting, but a lot of work. When I told my dad that oral histories were going to involve a lot of paperwork that made him laugh.

So, a few things I am working on at the last possible minute. Some of this is by design, like completing my IED write-up while I work on the project, and some is by accident as there was no way to speed up my work at the Simcoe County Museum. While it seems to all be very complex, I am happy to report that things seem to be sorting themselves out in a rather simple sort of way.

P.S. Thanks to Devon for pointing out that IED also means Improvised Explosive Device, I had completely forgotten that acronym ... I mean, yay news!

Public History Everywhere

Last night I was indulging in a little bit of SNL.

Do you know how once you learn a name, or a trend, you start seeing it everywhere. I have determined that I got to that point with my Public History classes, and I couldn't help but notice the relevance that SNL episode had to my classes.

The first, most obvious thing was during Weekend Update Seth Meyers talked about the Cockroach Hall of Fame and Museum in Plano Texas: "A man in Texas has opened the cockroach hall of fame museum that features collections of the dead bugs in tutus and sunglasses, though just because you call it a museum inside your head doesn't mean you're not just a crazy son of a bitch with a gluegun."

I couldn't help but go back in my head to our discussions in class about what constitutes a museum. I actually came to the conclusion that yes, I would consider this a museum in my mind. Here is some of the information about that museum:



The second reference was to something that I came across in interactive exhibit design, about interactive physical computing. We looked at the 40 top arduino projects on the web, and the top one was this interactive laser harp. The musical guest, Kesha, actually used this harp in her first number. I probably felt cooler than I should have at that. Check out the video. The harp is used at the 3 minute mark.



Here is the video of the original laser harp:



It's official. I will now look for Public History in everything.

IED: Updates

Many things have evolved about the project that I am working on for Interactive Exhibit Design. I am still on the map idea, and because I am caught in 'the Vinland loop' (more on that later) I am still looking at mapping perceived Medieval Norse landings in what we now consider to be North America.

However, the project has morphed into two separate projects. The first is still the website, where my intention is to be ever-adding, so as to be as comprehensive as possible. I have actually progressed to the main page, and have a model that I am now adding the information to in HTML. To make it more professional I may have to look more at Java and XML, though I have to admit to being most comfortable in HTML.

The second part of my project has stemmed from the first. I wanted a group to be able to interact with my design. To do this, I at first thought I would just provide a touch platform for the website. This is still possible, as I am still working on the website. However, I am beginning to design a separate project, which will use a combination of Processing and an Arduino, which will also be a map of North America, and the Northern Atlantic Regions.

At first I was wondering if there was anyway that I could design a surface, where moving an item across that surface would result in a cursor moving in a corresponding way across the computer screen. Unlike a mouse, the top left corner of the board would also be the top left corner of the screen. The idea would be that I could have a physical map, and as you moved an object (I was imagining a Viking Ship) across the map it would also move across the map online. While this is in many ways theoretically possible, I have abandoned it because it is certainly outside of my capabilities.

My next idea was to build a mouse in the shape of a Viking Ship, and then use that to interact with the website. Again, while it is possible, and has not been entirely abandoned as a possibility, this in many ways is not challenging enough, because the most likely methodology would involve my buying wireless mouse parts and then superimposing artistic elements on the top to make it look like a Viking Ship. There are more complex ways to do this, of course, and I may yet look into this.

Where I have settled is to create a project which will convey rather simple information. On the computer I will design a program which can show you some basic locations on a map related to Norse landings in North America. Then I will create a map out of something like foam board, and possibly using the large size sign printer. In that map I will embed a series of switches in certain locations, so that when you press the switch, or in some way complete the circuit, the program will show you information about the place which you have just located.

This will be separate from the website that I am working on, because the website can have a lot more information about not only significant sites, but also about the sites that historians have interpreted as having significance for one reason or another. I hope, by Apr. 7th, to have something substantial to show in both these projects.

Projects for IED

The Interactive Exhibit Design Class is really off and rolling now. My colleagues are all doing very interesting things. Make sure that you check them out.

Interactive Exhibit Design
Dana Johnson
Tim O'Grady
Braden Murray
Sara Sirianni
Rebecca Rahey
Jordan Goldstein

A motor is not a potentiometer… the more you know.

In IED we have been experimenting with Arduinos and physical computers. For one exercise my colleague Jordan Goldstein and I attempted to work a motor with a potentiometer and pulse width modulation. After some confusion between what was a motor, what was a servo, and what was a potentiometer we eventually were able to get a servo responding to the potentiometer.

Controlling a servo with the Arduino (sweep)

Since we first had difficulty with the potentiometer, labouring under the assumption that the motor was actually the potentiometer, we first experimented with controlling the Servo directly with a programming language.

We had : a Servo
Arduino
Arduino software
Breadboard
several jumper wires

Taking the servo, we connected the red wire (positive wire) to the 5V Analog pin on the Arduino, the white (input) wire to the 9 pwm pin, the black to the GND Analog pin. Then we uploaded this code to the Arduino:

// Sweep
// by BARRAGAN

#include

Servo myservo; // create servo object to control a servo
// a maximum of eight servo objects can be created

int pos = 0; // variable to store the servo position

void setup()
{
myservo.attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object
}


void loop()
{
for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1) // goes from 0 degrees to 180 degrees
{ // in steps of 1 degree
myservo.write(pos); // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
delay(15); // waits 15ms for the servo to reach the position
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1) // goes from 180 degrees to 0 degrees
{
myservo.write(pos); // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
delay(15); // waits 15ms for the servo to reach the position
}
}


This code can be found in the Arduino Program, under Examples, then under Servo. It is called Sweep. If you do this then the Servo begins to rotate back and forth from one position to another.

Controlling the Servo with the Arduino (Knob)

Having figured this out we played with the length of the delay by changing the value of delay(15). We also experimented by changing the value of pos, and pos+ and played with the speed of the servo.

Once we understood this, and had found an appropriate potentiometer, we attached the potentiometer and servo to the breadboard, and used the potentiometer to control the movement of the servo.

First we attached the potentiometer to the breadboard, then ran one wire to the Analog 0 pin on the Arduino. Then we attached the positive wire to the positive input on the breadboard, and the negative to the negative output on the same breadboard.

Then we attached the servo to the breadboard. The white (input wire) from the servo was connected to 9 PWM pin on the Arduino. Then the positive was connected to the positive input on the breadboard, and the negative to the negative. Then we connected the breadboard to the Arduino, running a wire from the positive input to the 5v Analog pin on the Arduino, and the negative output to the GND Analog pin.

Then we uploaded this code:

// Controlling a servo position using a potentiometer (variable resistor)
// by Michal Rinott

#include

Servo myservo; // create servo object to control a servo

int potpin = 0; // analog pin used to connect the potentiometer
int val; // variable to read the value from the analog pin

void setup()
{
myservo.attach(9); // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object
}

void loop()
{
val = analogRead(potpin); // reads the value of the potentiometer (value between 0 and 1023)
val = map(val, 0, 1023, 0, 179); // scale it to use it with the servo (value between 0 and 180)
myservo.write(val); // sets the servo position according to the scaled value
delay(15); // waits for the servo to get there
}

This code is found again in the examples, under servo, as Knob. This allowed us to turn the servo by turning the potentiometer.

In the end this is what the set up looked like.




This is another step in our understanding of the importance of physical computing as a potential tool for interactive and active history.

Thanks to Lucky Larry for a very useful tutorial.

IED (Interactive Exhibit Design): Starting point - HTML and CSS

So, I think I have made conceptual progress on my project.

I am still pursuing the idea of an interactive map. However, what I believe I would like to do is try and spatially locate in Canada aspects of medievalism, like Gothic architecture, and historians and artisans who work with medieval themes. As well, I will try and map as many different interpretations as possible for the location of Vinland.

I am going to approach it from the perspective of HTML, XML and CSS, and design a website where one can call up different parts of the information at will. That will be the basis of the project, which, if it were part of an exhibit, would be best used in conjunction with a Smart Board, so that visitors can call up the information by touch.

This will allow me to start with something basic, and to continuously add to it. It also gives me the opportunity, once I get some of the basics together, to expand and learn other technologies, like GIS, and other forms of interactive and digital mapping.

The next step is to gather the building blocks, a.k.a. the information and documents that I want to situate on the map, and the basic maps that will be the basis for the site. Because I will be gathering documents and information from different sources that may be tangled up with copyright I won't publish so much what I have found, as describe it here on my blog.

But I am going to start with some of the resources found at the Great Canadian Mysteries Website we investigated in Public History class, and try to get some basic representational map of Canada to start.

Interactive Mapping Medievalism Exhibit Design at the Canadian Frontier?

From my last post you will see that I am involved in two projects (among many) this year that have special significance. Just for clarification these are initial thoughts about the Interactive Exhibit Design project, not my project for Mapping Medievalism, however the title will become clearer as my thoughts unfold (or unravel, one of the two).

Self doubt is about as attractive in academia as it is in dating. The rule is fake a little self confidence until you actually become self confident, then pretend you were sure of yourself all the way along. If you believe in you, then others will too. Of course, looking back through my previous blogs one can tell that I have not always followed this rule. In fact I am not very good at it. See.. there. I often feel that the only way to have control over my insecurities is to admit to them ... frequently, perhaps somewhat annoyingly.

For instance, all through the Christmas Break I was trying to come up with an appropriate project to start in Interactive Design. The thoughts kind of went like this ... "well maybe if I make a map of where ... " "maybe I could map out where..." "maybe people could press a button and have it show up on a map where ...", and so on and so forth. I kept coming back to map, but it occurred to me that I am still missing something key to this project.

The problem is I am still thinking in terms of an 'analog' exhibit, and imposing digital and technological elements on to it. We talked about this a great deal in Digital History, where many scholars, when it comes to the internet, are not exploring what the internet can do when they publish works there; instead they are imposing the conventions of the printed book or magazine on the internet. Stephen Robertson has an article about this phenomenon as he observed it in one of his classes. This is what I found myself stuck on in this project.

Not that the technology should necessarily dictate the ideas, but that the technologies should help you change the way you think about presenting history to the public. For instance, at the fairly new Lincoln Library, BRC Imagination Arts is doing amazing things with what they have termed Holavision to make the history interact with the public, including an 'hologram' of Abraham Lincoln. I was particularly intrigued by Prof. Turkel's vision (and Prof. Robert MacDougall's revisionist version) of the History appliance. This is when the possibilities of what it means for technology to interact with the public started to come across.

While technology should free, not limit the ideas, at the same time I will be limited by it because I am not skilled enough (yet) to make it do all the things I would like it to; so I shall ask not what the technology can do for me, but instead what I can do with the technology. At the same time that is quite a bit. I have been toying with the idea of projecting something, like historic apparel, that people could walk into and pretend that they are wearing. Or maybe I could make a 3D model of a Viking Ship (though my gut tells me someone may have beat me to the punch), or maybe one of a local historic building. I may yet do one of these things, we shall see how things go. Or maybe I could make a map.

I was definitely stuck. It was my colleague, Catherine Caughell, who suggested, hey, you re helping set up an exhibit, why not make something for that. And that, of course, brings me back to map, as the title of that seminar, as has been stated, is Mapping Medievalism. Therefore, if it is possible, I am going to be trying to create something appropriate for that exhibit. That will give me a few extra incentives, including trying to take into account what would be appropriate for the exhibit, and designing it to suit a specific audience. Not that it will necessarily be put in the exhibit, but perhaps if I am able to fake confidence long enough it might turn into something worthwhile. Also, it gives me license to do a map, which my brain was clearly set on.

Some initial thoughts on that project would include digitizing maps that are going to be part of the exhibition (and ones that aren't, but that are relevant to the topic and are available), making them zoom-able, and then locating the maps on a larger map of Canada, so that someone would select the geographic region to see the smaller maps. It would also include some information from the exhibition represented spatially, in a way that is not obvious in the exhibit. I am not sure if I could accomplish this with a screen that you could touch, so that you touch the map to access the information you want, or whether I would go larger and have someone stand back with something more like a remote or a mouse, and access the information that way.

I do not yet know how I will do this. Something in my mind is saying SMART Board, but I am not sure that is the way to go, or if that would be appropriate for what I am envisioning. Nor am I sure that this is what I will do, or that it is worth doing. The map idea still seems a little ... 2D, I suppose is the word, and not quite pushing the limits of what is possible. Then again, this would not be an ordinary map. Again, to be clear, this is not the project that I am doing for Mapping Medievalism, this is what I could be doing in Interactive Exhibit Design. It just happens that I might be able to help the former with something I am already doing in the latter, especially if I was going to be doing a map anyway. If I find it is not useful to mesh these two then I won't, likewise if my professors or colleagues find some of my other ideas more interesting, but for now I like the idea of trying to design with a purpose and an audience, even if the audience is not guaranteed.

So here we go.

Also, I apologize for that horrendous 'ask not what your country ..' joke a few paragraphs back. Had to be said (though many may disagree), and if you can't be cheesy in your blog when can you (implied, never)?

Academic projects: future and ongoing ... and going, and going and going.

I would like to echo my colleagues in Public History's sentiments about coming back to school for another semester. This semester has a lot to live up to; but where last semester we lay a lot of foundations for an understanding of public history, this semester my colleagues and I are setting out to be a part of it. In our core course we will be undertaking some cataloging of the University of Western Ontario's sports collection and learning how to write history for the public, in addition to preparing our heritage district (the Talbot/Ridout area of London Ontario) information for exhibition and finishing our lesson plans for EcoKids. This is just the basics, projects that are common to all of us, but since we are not all that common we are also doing different classes/projects in addition to the Public History Core.

In particular, I, like many of my colleagues, am undertaking the Interactive Exhibit Design class with Bill Turkel, where I will be attempting to build something. Like many academics I don't have much experience with my hands unless you count typing, so it is going to be an adventure. Another adventure that I am undertaking is with the Visual Arts department. I have joined a special seminar entitled 'Mapping Medievalism at the Canadian Frontier'run by Prof. Katherine Brush. This project will also involve an exhibition, as well as a publication and a symposium.

These last two projects in particular are going to be large and ongoing. While I will try and mention my other projects, I am going to keep track of my progress on my interactive exhibit and my project for Mapping Medievalism through my blog, and also, if I have anything that is too large or inappropriate for my blog I will post a link to the information which I will post on my website. I am looking for feedback and ideas, in addition to trying to keep track of my progress.

All in all, this is going to be a fascinating semester.