We had the opportunity last month to beta test our new Oceanic Scales puzzle game and app system with the 4th grade class of the Weatherbee Elementary School in Hampden, Maine. Chynna Avery Felice, the creator of the Oceanic Scales lesson plans invited her partner Gene A. Felice II, co-creator of the Oceanic Scales puzzle game[…]
We finished up our first full scale Outcropping made from recycled cardboard and bamboo plywood this past week and also installed our spagnum moss walls planted with native succulents, Dudleya Caspitosa on it’s back. Here are a few pictures of the process as we laid it all out and put it together including some of[…]
This is the newest configuration of Oceanic Scales, with our “Outcroppings” style, three part installation + central control column. This new design is inspired by Frank Gehry’s easy edge furniture, combined with modern methods for slicing 3D forms via laser cutting. These 3D visualizations illustrate how we are planning to set up the debut installation[…]
We hit a milestone today as we have completed 120 element forms representing temperature, nutrients and PH of our oceans. We’ve also completed 70 of our 85 diatoms forms. All these forms are made from either Pine Resin or PLA 3D print filament. Both are industrially compostable materials that decompose at high temperatures. It was[…]
Just a bit of inspiration from a series of interactive / robotic systems that derive their inspiration from tentacles and snakes:
As a part of the 3D protoyping process, mold making and casting often comes into play as a way to make repeated forms from an original prototype. After a while, the toxic nature of working with various industrial chemicals and casting materials, begins to take a toll. The sad story of Eva Hesse is all[…]
While doing a lot of gaming / puzzle research on how we could approach new strategies for interaction within the project, a fellow student turned me on to “Conway’s Game of Life”. Funny, as I had just done a “Game of Life” cellular automata patch in Max / Jitter, so the crossover potential became immediately[…]
The “Touche” conductive sensor system, which was originally designed by Disney, is looking like a viable option for our conductive sensor system within Oceanic Scales. This DIY version is simple and straightforward: http://www.instructables.com/id/Touche-for-Arduino-Advanced-touch-sensing/
One of the most challenging this to deal with in any interactive art installation, is what to do with all the wires? Do you hide them? Do you integrate them? If it’s the later, how do you make it more aesthetically interesting? I’ve been playing with new techniques for coiling dried kelp around wire and[…]
I’ve been comparing various professional & DIY scientific water sensors for PH, Salinity, Dissolved Solids, Conductivity, etc. and have come up with these options. I just purchased an Atlas-Scientific Conductivity kit. While I’m told from a scientist friend of mine that they’re not accurate enough for published data collection, I’m hoping they’re sensitive enough for[…]
Here are a couple of great resources for obtaining live water quality data in the San Francisco Bay area. http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/wqdata/ http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/wqdata/query/index.html https://data.sfgov.org/ http://www.sfbayjv.org/resources.php In Santa Cruz / Monterey: http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoBlog/ And in the Monterey Bay / Elkhorn Slew: http://www.mbari.org/lobo/loboviz.htm http://www.mbari.org/lobo/getLOBOdata.htm http://cimt.ucsc.edu/rtd.htm And a an interesting data site monitoring ocean color around the world: http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Here’s a couple of links to some great projects at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, that allow visitors to interact with digital jellyfish, through a foot pump interface: http://www.lindsaydigital.com/2012/03/31/mbaq_jellies/ And another amazing touch screen interface for exploring the world of Phytoplankton: http://vimeo.com/36418701#
