Keyboard as MIDI

I have been looking into ways of using an interactive element into installations. As I previously stated I was interested in using MIDI as a communication medium between the user and the system, but there needed to be a physical interface involved. I have experience mapping musical keyboards and using them as a MIDI controller, but I wanted to use something more familiar and technology based. 

I developed the idea of using a computer text keyboard as a device to communicate the MIDI data to the triggering software. Based on initial research this would involve using another piece of software in the chain, so that the text data can be converted to the MIDI language. 

Bome seem to make the most promising solution - http://www.bome.com/products/mousekeyboard

I made a mockup of a possible way of incorporating the keyboard into the structure whilst keeping a strong theme of being wary of technology. Here I have proposed the idea of only having limited keys with printed letters on, these would be the switches used to process the MIDI data and I have shown a quote from 1984 on the board. All the keys that are left blank will have the same MIDI code and will all trigger a "defect" mode in the installation.

Intertextual Research - Bill Hicks

During my initial research and mind mapping for the Drone presentation, I remembered a performance by Bill Hicks, the american comedian about how he envisioned a positive use for militarised drones, feeding the hungry as he described - "Firing a banana into the mouth of a hungry Ethiopian." Whilst humorous, this quip raised a major question to me "What if the militarised drones defected to 'good?'" 

Intertextual references are key in my project, especially if I chose to do an installation. I shall have to recreate these references that subconsciously connect to the audience through semiotics. Creating, remembering and developing audience's memories and individual caches of media products. This will be key to my study and shapes it towards the idea of the gap between technology for good and evil.

Bill Hicks Relentless

MadMapper - Quartz Controller - MIDI

The best way I could think of displaying the information i have researched is through the medium of installation. Having worked on Trope's installation Conversio at Frequency 2013, I was inspired to use projection mapping and linked visual and audio experiences to create subtle conceptual messages. I knew i needed to look more into the technical details of how projection mapping is made, controlled and triggered. I expanded upon my previous experience and looked into this method.

Click For Demonstration

When looking at projection mapping I knew, from previous experience, that one of the most intuitive ways was to use a piece of video mapping software. I have used MadMapper previously as it is a cheaper, simpler and less cluttered version of the professional Modul8 suite. Since I had settled on using this software I needed to think about triggering. If i make an installation one of the more attractive elements of this medium is the possibility of interactivity. One of the best methods of transposing interactivity is using MIDI data. MIDI is open source and easy to adapt into many situations allowing for audio and visuals to be triggered at the same time. Here is a tutorial I found that displays how MadMapper can be used in conjunction with MIDI through Ableton Live Software and the Quartz Control developer tool.

Developing The Message

I have been looking into a more defined message as to what I want my product to say. My research into both the positive and negative connotations immediately threw up the question of using drones for good. There is a rich source of many methods and institutions using drone technology for capital gain and also for ethical good and charity. However, the most poignant point that was thrown up by Suarez about how a drone could defect through malware or system breakdown and how this fine line between safety and danger is heading towards being solely left up to an electronic circuit. This lead me to ponder that

"The line between good and evil is thin, should this be the distance of a circuit board?"

This lead me onto think about the drones as defected dangerous devices and the immediate reference that was brought up was Orwell's novel 1984. This will serve as a great inspiration to me, despite being fiction, in shaping the message behind my product

Excerpt from 1984

Initial Mind Mapping

Here is my initial plans surrounding the ideas of being wary of the evil side of technology.

I will use this as a basis in developing my ideas.

Drones Extended Research

I used TED as a major source of inspiration and information to build my Drone R&D presentation. 
TED had a large conference which included many talks discussing Drones and the ideas of remotely controlled flying vehicles. Taking inspiration from the talks of Daniel Suarez, Greg Asner and Andreas Raptopoulos I managed to build a balanced argument and display a wide spectrum of information both in favour and against the ideas of Drones. 
The Militarised Drone is an idea that I am personally wary of and I am firmly against most Military Actions in regards to my personal ethic beliefs. So I was much happier to research the positive uses of drones that exist at the moment. However I needed to know more about their uses in deadly combat so I paid a lot of attention to Daniel Suarez's talk about weaponised drones.

Click for Suarez's TEDTalk

So after I had learnt of the rather scary side of drones, TED threw up a lot more positive results of talks that discuss how drone technology can be used for civilian good as opposed to military "evil".

The first talk that i really connected with was Greg Asner's: Ecology from the air talk. Asner describes how technology from the air is a really useful and quick way of taking detailed ecological surveys, especially in the Amazon rainforest. Asner's team not only reaped loads of ecological and scientific data from the aerial scans, learning about the types, numbers and health of trees - not only from the immediate surface, but their technology allowed them to "strip" away the canopy and survey smaller trees and plants that were growing below. The technology also allowed for an inadvertent crime-fighting operation. The lasers that scan down to the surface showed large caverns where illegal gold-mining was taking place as well as notifying the scientists where deforestation was taking place in protected areas. Asner informs us that the authorities were duly notified of the team's findings. 

Click for Asner's TEDTalk

The final talk that I referenced in my presentation was Andreas Raptopoulos' talk about the Matternet network system of delivery drones currently being deployed throughout Africa. The Matternet network is currently deployed to deliver medical supplies to remote villages where road access is either difficult or non-existent. It is a totally automated network, the drones fly on GPS determined routes automatically, land on charging and loading stations and change battery packs all without human interference. This allows the Drones to work cheaply and effectively 24/7. Raptopoulos' vision is focused on spreading the network in developing countries but also, from a more corporate aspect, as a delivery network - akin to the Amazon drone - in the developed world. 

Click for Raptopoulos' TEDTalk

Drone Research Presentation

Click for Link