We're going to be using a lilypad arduino in conjunction with several LEDs and a microphone to make a comfortable and unobtrusive bracelet.
The arduino will be counting upwards, whenever you speak the counter will be reset, and the LEDs will glow like a decibel reader. Throughout the course of your wearing the bracelet, it will record the amount of time between your daily vocal outbursts.
Its important that the bracelet doesn't seem like too medical, or like a punishment. This will be for personal edification. How long a person is comfortable with silence. I, personally, talk a lot, just to fill in gaps. Why is that? Maybe I'd choose my words more carefully, maybe my words word carry more weight if I wasn't spouting them out so willingly.
These bracelets are to serve as a sort of meditation, and also a way to learn about yourself.
Oooooh... I like it. It won't be too hard to make it look comfortable; some nice cool colors, an easy-on-the-eyes interface; something that appears like a machine of good feelings, like an iPod or a pedometer.
ReplyDeletewhy are you making it a bracelet? what connection does a bracelet on the arm have to words that you speak. Also, how will the devise discriminate between your own "vocal outbursts" and other noises happening around you? I feel that the counter will continuously set back to zero everytime your devise pics up any kind of sound. Finally, why is the data this devise records important to you? maybe consider mapping out the data over a long period of time to create a log of silence...or something, idk
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of self-improvement through the use of this devise or at least using it as a means of self-monitoring but I'm worried about it picking up outside sounds too. A way to avoid that might possibly be to make it a headset or similar to a cellphone bluetooth. It would keep it closer to your mouth and less likely to pick up other noises from your surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI feel like even though you said it isn't a punishment it would still come off as one. Also you concept still lends itself to a sort of punishment because it's almost a forced meditation. Just because it is like a punishment doesn't mean it's a bad thing though.
ReplyDeleteI feel this is now leaning more toward making a person aware of themselves, but through force. Like how a teacher makes a child write their bad deed over and over again so they realize what they did and will correct it.
From what I understand this monitors your behavior and gives a negative reaction (or a reaction you don't want to happen) if you engage in a particular sort of behavior. I think this idea is really interesting and can be pushed further in both atmosphere and timing. I'd really concentrate ont he space you'll use to pull this off as well as the true visual aspects of this once people are int he room wearing the bracelets. what interactions will most likely occur and how we might react. Will we care about the ramifications if we talk? Will we even read them as ramifications? Also, if it doesn't matter that we don't read them as ramifications then what is the point of them being there? What if people decided to make noise just to see what happens? I'd just make sure the effects you make the LEDs pull off have a purpose to them that clearly support your concept.
That sounds cool. For some reason it seems like it would compel people to see how high they could get their counters, and see how long they could go without talking. Only thing is I dunno if a bracelet is really related to speech or sound. What if they were like headphones? Or looked like one of those devices that counted the number of steps you took. Just some junk I would think about before designing anything.
ReplyDeleteThe bracelet is kind of clinical... because they make many clinical bracelets, but they mostly have just information on them. This is like a pedometer, but instead of tracking how much of an action you do, it tracks how long you can go without doing a certain action. The only problem I see is that it doesn't just track your own silence, but is very highly dependent on the noise level of the people around you. So how would this work as meditation if you had the courage/strength to be quiet all day and nothing to show for it because a noisy person always resets it? If I were so concentrated on fulfilling this goal of not speaking and someone, right before I reached my goal, screamed and reset this number I'd worked for, i'd probably punch them in the face (ok, I'm not that drastic).
ReplyDeleteThe bracelet with the led lights in your drawing reminds me of something you would see in a circus or a carnival... which might add irony to your piece considering carnivals are full of so many distracting noises and people shouting to get your attention. It would be really hard to stay silent at a carnival. But I don't think thats what you're going for. You might want to put a little more time into the actual bracelet design. Other than that, I like your project and where it's going.
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