② Buying my first Arduino!

Going to an electronic store can be intimadating so the best I could do was to prepare a shopping list. Sunlight @ Sim Lim Tower at Rochor, Singapore, has pretty good staff that are willing to assist in your questions.

Feeling frustrated I asked Tammy for help and she suggested why don’t I just tie the string into the holes of the motor blade. To solve the tension problem between motor and prototype, I decided to make use the table and more tapes to provide better support.

This set up was successful and some of the key factors were (1) building good tension between motor and prosthetic and (2) tying knot straight onto the provided blades of motor.

Reflection:
The prototype is successful however it did not have the same intimacy as before. The first prototype felt more intimate as there was an input and output by human efforts. This prototype only has an input and output that is pre-determined. Hence, my next iterations would involve another sensor as input.

So, I first went on to P5js to look for a drawing pad JS code which led me to user;fffiloni. After testing his basic code, I realised I needed a ‘undo’ button. So, that began my journey utilising ChatGPT 4.0 to assist my vision.

Through multiple iterations asking Chat questions like “how can i add this code into a HTML website?” and “can i change the background to an image instead?”, I was able to create a website where users can draw over an background image. Disclaimer: This was also only possible with basic HTML and p5JS lessons that I received at LASALLE College of the Arts for over 6 months, seperately.

The website went through an initial round of user-testing to check for the performance. The drawing pad operated smoothly as expected however as I was reviewing the outcomes, I was curious to see users’ creations without the background image.

So, I asked chatgpt to assist me in adjusting the code of the ‘save’ button such that it only captures users’ drawing. I have a few reasons for that decision. Firstly, I wanted users’ to see, and possibly be surprised by, their creations to encourage a sense of agency over their expression online.

Next, I decided on an aesthetic that didn’t look too serious. I kept the styling (CSS) simple to reflect the attitudes of a ‘cozy web’. Cozy web refers to an intimate, small-scale internet experience where users connect in close-knit, personalised online spaces. Platforms like Tumblr and neocities that priortises fostering community and warmth.

– in contrast to the vast and impersonal mainstream platforms. One of the key proponents of this concept is Laurel Schwulst, who wrote an influential essay titled "My Website is a Living Thing" in 2019.

The user interface is kept simple. I avoided explaining too much about my objective of fostering relationship between humans and nature. Rather, I chose to encourage users to imagine the otherwordly scenes.

This goal aligns with Morton’s “Ecology without Nature” where he argues that artists, or anyone who imagines our environment, one should consider how it’s reflects human acitivities. The act of users’ simply imgaining life forms that are out of the norm contributes to the bridging of the nature and culture divide.

Starting off, I uploaded the results onto a seperate page called dreamscape creatures. Where I introduced an animation script that allows these drawings to float about.

Next, I was curious to see them in 3 dimension. So, I brought it to p5js to explore image to point animation. Each version pushes the concept of “dimension” altering the original state.

Reflection:
Reflecting on the exercise, I recalled Week 9's sharing from ‘Feelers Feelers’ where we were introduced to us their concept of a ‘Greener Screen’. One of the key theory to for a sustainable web is to opitmise and minimise the jpeg files to reduce energy consumption and cognitive power of the uesrs.

If the goal of this experiment is to build better intimacy between humans and non-humans through a website. Can there be a process where no images have to be uploaded? How can I bring more life to users while expressing online?

Cornway’s game of life was quite a discovery. Originating from the theory of cellular automaton where math meets tech, the dynamic and evolving patterns allows users to interact with 'life' made from the simple rules of life and death.

Sticking to the idea of a drawing pad, could the act of placing or removing pixels on a grid symbolise the creation process? and the system of finding neighbouring cells represent life?

The idea of a drawing pad / game of life was so applicable for anything. I tried it over the the image of the roots and introduced a new rule where the pixels do not turn postive. The result look like a bonsai root getting into eaten by pixels HAHAHA.