Patterns In Nature.

Brainstorming natures patterns;

- Flowing water

- Lacework of clouds

- Spirals;

       sunflower head

       snail shells

- Sand patterns, repetitive although no two parts are the same.

- Trees:

      bark

      branches

      leaves

      tree rings

- Dendrochronology- tree dating based on tree rings, also known as growth rings. 

- The honeycomb

- Butterflywings 

- Animal fur

PATTERN IS EVERYWHERE.

To start off with I think i'll explore different patterns within nature, sourcing my own photos, play with mark making and looking at texture. 

Perhaps patchwork together different patterns, to hide the original identity of the pattern? 

Thinking of ways to link concepts. 

Identity In Nature.

Having discussed my project ideas with a friend who studies Natural Sciences, she suggested that I look into crypsis and mimicry.
Having looked further into these, I feel that this could create the link I wanted between nature and online identity.

CRYPSIS-  the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection by other organisms, organisms can visually evolve so that they resemble their surroundings, others use chromatic response to change colour in changing environments.
Other examples of this are:
- TRANSPARENCY
- CAMOUFLAGE
- NOCTURNALITY
- MIMICRY;
- BATESIAN MIMICRY- Harmless animal appear to be distasteful or poisonous.
- AGRESSIVE MIMICRY- Predators or parasites which share the characteristics of a harmless             species, allowing them to avoid detection by their prey.
- AUTOMIMICRY- Where one part of an organisms body resembles another.
- EYE SPOTS- An eye like marking that resembles that of a different animal to deceive potential predators, drawing the attention away from the most vulnerable body parts.

Eye spots shown here on a caterpiller. 

www.heritageradionetwork.com 

Batesian Mimicry 

The Viceroy butterfly mimics the foul tasting Monarch butterfly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batesian_mimicry

Camouflage 

www.zmescience.com 

Camouflage

www.telegraph.co.uk

Colouring changing chameleons 

www.flickr.com 

Nature's Patterns.

I've been researching nature's patterns and came across this series of books by Philip Ball, I think it's important and interesting to take a look at the science behind nature's patterns, and also give me inspiration for possible things that I can look into further. 

I haven't read all three books yet, but I've been dipping in and out of them, finding points of interest to research. 

Thinking 3rd Year.

Having looked over my Unit X feedback, I've decided to take elements from that project forward into 3rd Year.

I enjoyed working with more of a concept, and although I don't want to concept to be something I stick to like glue, I want it to grow with the project and see where it takes me. 

Something I touched on whilst undertaking Unit X, was identity online, and how identity can be changed, people can pretend to be something they're not, or pretend to be others, it's so easy to pretend online. 

I'd experimented previously with hiding the identity of people's faces, scribbling out reconisable features, changing parts of the face so the eyes are no longer theirs, or they have a different nose, basically warping the reality of the face, changing the identity. 

I definitely think that this is something that I can progress with further, but  I want to put a totally different spin on things. When I spoke to Lauren Bowker about my DATAWHERE project, she said it might have been nice to not look at actual data, but to look elsewhere, to perhaps take nature as a way of finding data and imagery, so that the data could take on a more abstract form. 

Since nature is something that I always find and take inspiration from I thought this would be a good place to start and see if I can try and link the two concepts, identity online and identity in nature. 

Cute Circuit.

Cute Circuit are pushing the boundaries of fashion and technology, making technology more wearable and visually appealing. With the use of lighting in their garments, they create a wearable show piece. Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz are the pair behind the ground breaking creations. 

Their aim is to create resonant, fashionable, visually and emotionally attractive designs. 

http://cutecircuit.com/portfolio/little-black-dress/

The reinvention of the black dress, embedded with thousands of LEDs. These move and change to create thousands of different compositions and patterns. 

http://cutecircuit.com/portfolio/twitter-dress/

The first Haute couture Twitter dress, which receives and displays tweets in real time, the dress can directly be tweeted via #tweetthedress showing the display in LEDs. 

http://cutecircuit.com/portfolio/kinetic-dress/#prettyPhoto

Kinetic dress reactive to the mood and activities of the wearer. The dress is embedded with sensors that closely follow the form of the body, which capture the wearer's movements and interaction with others, which is then displayed via electroluminescent embroidery. This display changes depending on who is around the wearer. When the wearer is alone the dress remains a black dress, but when interacting with others or moving, the dress begins to light up and create moving patterns. 

-

It's amazing what is so seemingly achievable wearable technology is these days, and this definitely shows that is bound to become something that everyone is eventually wearing in some way or another. The kinetic dress especially, is not a million miles away from my concept, and this idea shows that my concept could realistically be achieved in some way. If this kinetic dress is able to respond to activity and make patterns according to surroundings, a dress that reveals data doesn't sound so out there at all and is actually something that could become a reality in some form. 

Coding Inspiration.

Norsk Bilde studios

Ibm Punchcards- www.columbia.edu

www.jeff-barr.com


Having come across the top image randomly in a layout book, I was inspired by the graphical element of marking out crosses to show where cross stitch would go to make a pattern. The areas then that were punch through reminded me of punch cards, which of course are an old fashioned way of coding computers, and also a way of programming looms for weaving and knitting.
I like the effect of many holes combining together to create a pattern, something that I could perhaps bring into my work? 
These did also remind me of brail and morse code, which are both different means of communicating via code. 

Punch Tape- minnalmalayali.blogspot.com

Punch card fabric- www.spoonflower.com

Nike FuelBand.

Nike FuelBand

http://store.nike.com/gb/en_gb/?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-300/pid-683902/pgid-683903&cp=EUNS_KW_UK_Icons

The Nike FuelBand is an interesting concept, a device that records all your activity levels, fitness wise, to then motivate you to get fit and to set a weight loss goal.

This information can then be uploaded onto an app where you can then see your progress and link with your friends to see how they're doing and vice versa. 

Interestingly people are then willingly displaying information about themselves onto an app, who knows then where that information is being taken to and who has access to it. 

I'm Watch.

I'm Watch

http://www.imsmart.com/en/i-m-watch/overview

The I'm Watch I feel is a strange piece of technology, a watch that is connected to your phone, I'm not entirely sure why this as a piece of technology is needed as such, as if we already have a phone, why do we need a watch that tells us things the phone can? 

This new piece of technology can receive calls, emails, texts and use apps. You can also listen to music via the device. I'm not entirely sure why someone would constantly want or need to be alerted that someone was trying to contact them via their watch. 

Google Glass.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/20/a-detailed-look-at-the-google-glass-experience/

Looking into current technologies that are trying to become integral parts of peoples lives, I looked into 

Google Glass, which is basically carrying the internet around with you, by simply speaking into the set you can search Google, take a photo, record a video, send a message or get directions. 

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/20/a-detailed-look-at-the-google-glass-experience/

Wearable Computers.

I attended a workshop on Arduino technology to create wearable computers run by Rain Ashford. The workshop had all to do with coding and how to program the Lilypad, which I thought could be a really interesting insight into how technology can be used within clothing. 

The workshop was fairly tricky to get to grips with, especially as a lot of element of science were involved with creating circuits etc. The coding was also tricky, but I think could be something really worth while to look into at a later point perhaps for a future project.

We only covered basic coding to turn LEDS on and off and to flash at different speeds or to react with a sensor, but the uses for this technology could become far more complex. 

Day to day activity.

Over the past week I have decided to keep a day to day record of my daily activity, I recorded various information;

 Woke up:

Amount of times logged into Facebook:

Time spent on Facebook:

Time spend on the internet:

Cups of tea drank:

Time spent in university:

Time spent in the library:

Time spent on the bus:

Time spent eating:

Time spent chatting:

Time spent blogging:

Time spent researching:

Money spent:

Food eaten:

Soft drinks:

Television watched:

Bedtime:

Googling Myself.

I wanted to see how much of my information was readily available on the internet, I've personally only been online for about 7 years, but imagine if your entire life was online?

There's articles in the paper about people who have lost their jobs because of their Facebook activity or people who haven't been offered a job because of their Facebook account. 

We often readily put this information out there but in this technology driven world, people are going to have to become more and more savvy with what they actually put onto the internet, there is a lot more possibility for the past to come back and haunt you online. 

Google results;

- Blog posts

- Tagged posts on Facebook

- Facebook profile

- Twitter posts/posts tagged in

- UK home address

- Youtube account & videos I liked/commented on

- Activity streams on Creative Matchmaker

- An account i'd never signed up to on Wattpad

- Amazon wishlists

- Names database showing where I went to school

-  UK Manchester address

- Peopletracer

- A petition I'd signed

- A list of events I'd attended

- Link to my dads address

- Links to my blog on unknown website Craftkeys.com

A strange mix of information came up, a lot to do with tracing people and finding out people addresses,  which a lot seemed to have been generated by third party advertising, creating profiles and information through websites that I'd previously signed up to. When signing up to just general websites and online resources such as an online shopping website, you never really know who they're going to share your information with, and what that information is then going to be used for. 

It's a scary concept that you information can go anywhere, and anyone has the potential to be able to access it. 

Screenshot from google.

Data Flow.

Literary Organism Poster p78

 News Knitter- Mahirm M. Yavus & Ebru Kurbak p 68/69     Typographic Body- Benoit Lemoine p158

Lux- Helmo. FR p114/115

Images from Data Flow- Visualising Information in Graphic Design

Looking through the Data Flow books I found some really inspirational imagery and ways of translating data into beautiful pattern. A lot of them if there had not been any information you wouldn't have know that the imagery actually represented any form of information. 

The News Knit piece I thought was especially relevant as I eventually translate any patterns I create onto some form of wearable. 

Random Walk The Visualisation of Randomness- Daniel Becker

 Visible Sound Sounds. Butter- Trikoton p115
                                                                                              Illinois:Visualising Music Vocal Album              

                                                             Grid- Jaz de Leon p57

Images  from Data Flow Visualising Information in Graphic Design 2.

Analysing Results.

It was interesting through reading through the results that a lot of people that answered that yes their profile on facebook was private, then answered the next question about what information they allowed the public to see that a lot of their information was still readily available for anyone to see.
One of my friends who answered the survey told me later that she didn't actually know to hide any of that information, and a lot of people think that by clicking private, that hides everything, when actually you have to go and individually find everything to hide, proving quite tricky.

Survey Results.

Peer Discussion.

Discussing in the studio with Bonnie and Frazer I was still unsure how to gather my information and gather different types of data and how to actually start. We came up with the idea that perhaps I should create a survey to see what peoples privacy settings were like on facebook and how they interact on social media sites.

Survey questions;
1. Is your profile set to private on Facebook?
-Yes
-No
-Parts of it
-Don't know
-Don't care

2. What Facebook profile information do you currently allow the public to see? (Check all that apply)
- Current city
- Hometown
- Gender
- Birthday (month and day only)
- Birthday (month, day and year)
- Interested in (men/women)
- Photos
- Relationship Status
- Friends
- Employer
- College/University
- High School
- Religion
- Interests
- Email Addresses
- Phone Numbers
- Street Addresses
- IM Screen Names
- Website

3. How many friends do you have on Facebook?
- 1- 50
- 50- 100
- 100- 200
- 200- 300
- 300- 400
- 400- 500
- Over 500
- Over 1000
- Over 2000
- Other (please specify)

4. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually know?
- 1-25
- 25-50
- 50-75
- 75- 100
- 100- 150
- 150- 200
- Over 200
- All of them
- None of them
- Other (please specify)

5. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually interact with on a regular basis (online or in person)?
- 1- 20
- 20-50
- 50- 100
- Other (please specify)

6. How regularly do you get friend requests from people you don't know?
- Everyday
- Often
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never
- Other (please specify)

7. Do you accept friend requests from people you do not know?
- Yes
- No
- Depends on what they look like
- If they have mutual friends with people you know
- Other (please specify)

8. Do you often 'check in' on Facebook?
- Everywhere you go
- At interesting places
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Never
- Other (please specify)

9. When did you join Facebook?

10. What other social networking sites do you use?
- Twitter
- Myspace
- Instagram
- Tumblr
- None
- Other (please specify)

Facebook Profile.

I decided to create a facebook profile under the alias of 'Dana Talysis' which actually spells 'Data Analysis'. I chose the image of a girl in a mask from Google images to represent that facebook can always be masking a fake person, it's easy to create a fake persona and become someone you're not online. 

I was curious to see how many people would actually accept the friend request from me, and if anyone would just randomly add me, or interact with me.

A few people have sent messages already, asking 'sorry do I know you?' showing that even though

people know that they don't recognise my name, they are curious to think maybe they do know me from somewhere. 

A few people interestingly accepted my friend request and then decided to delete me after probably looking over my facebook profile. The whole idea of masking and hiding the identity is something that interests me, perhaps combining hidden elements as well as revealing elements. 

Adapting.

Thinking about how my concept could be adaptable and used by other people.
- a program that collects your data to create a pattern.
- abstract so that it wouldn't be obvious what your data was.
- the more and more people that bought into it the more and more obvious peoples data would become?
- different colours to represent different aspects of life?

Tutorial Notes.

-Build up a record of what you do.
                  - Statistics.
                  - About yourself.
                  - Building up a persona?
                  - Create information.
                  - Fake profiles; celebrities.
                  - Explore different paths first.
                  - Tracing yourself/someone else.
                  - Tracking.
                  - Coding.
                  - Data flow.
                  - Make accounts.
                  - People responding/will people respond?
                  - How far can it go? Record responses?
What is my approach? Is it more about privacy or the personal?
- more ideas to fuel concept, has potential to broaden.

Look at the Data Flow books and also Information is Beautiful.

- Advertising targeting at you.
- Website tracking.
- Company supplies fake profiles for money.
- You don't know who you're talking to.
- Who is it about? - not set in stone, something people can adapt.
- Playing around with imagery.
- Coding as a language.
- Try a few types of information.
             

Privacy Articles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22025729

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1310965/Special-Investigation-It-took-just-hour-internet-experts-private-womans-life.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2058205,00.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/google-fined-7m-for-street-view-snooping-8532257.html

Just a few of the articles that I've found researching privacy scandals within technology and the internet.  Privacy is a major issue in many different strands of the internet, social media is definitely a large culprit for this. 

Even though there a constantly new regulations put in to try and manage privacy online, how can you ever really manage the internet?

With more technology being made by the week, integrating into different aspects of peoples lives, privacy is likely to just get worse. 

The use of apps are becoming more popular, which often use data and information, where possibly 3rd parties would be able to get hold of it.