Relatively Immediate Reflections on Critique, etc.

image as it appears on wall

image with RFID key- the indented text appears when the button on the reading device is pressed, go to this link to zoom because blogger is stupid.

comments made:

What was my exact exact purpose in making this? I just thought it was interesting, I thought it could generate some interesting thoughts in individuals who like chemicals like me, and maybe everyone else would just enjoy the photo, or playing with the device.

Consider using a map instead of a photo [also in this was the criticism that some of the dots were in weird, logical-seeming places, like on people or in the air, and that it was confusing if this meant anything]: NOOO, A. It would take me monthsandmonthsandmonths get that much data, it's difficult, B. You could interpret the crowds of the city as being global and mixed already, C. The lines of the diagram aren't noticeable from a distance and I like it that way, that the work functions as a basic photocollage before an interactive piece. More thinking about dot position below the below:

The LOVE was not seen as the focal point: Fair enough, I bumped it up a bit but it's not enough, but I don't want to compromise the length of the piece, it makes you think about crowds and moving and that parallels the sort-of secret subject of the work, the materials of the aluminium smelting process.

Think about emphasizing the lines: I'll think about it, but I like the hidden information system, just as information about smelting is not immediately obvious, but you have to make some effort to learn about it. SEE, I THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS.

Make a system about your materials: Good point. Things are loosely organized, like, I generally put gaseous Things above solid Things, but without a consistent system. Even if no one figures out the future version, which would have such a system based on state [because it makes more sense than atomic mass or density], it would result in a more regular, pleasing appearence [even though it's difficult to see now].

Make the length of lines mean something: Also a good point and a good headache- they could address amounts of materials, amounts of time materials spend doing what they do, distance they travel from their source of production [SUPER-HARD], or something else I can't think of.

comments not made:

You thing doesn't actually work. Discuss: OMG, I know, it was so tragic. It was working perfectly until I decided, Okay, let's make it pretty and put it in a box! And then I had to move some wires and do some sautering and it just died, and hours later I figured out the screen wasn't always initializing and that I had to press the reset button a lot, and then some time later half the screen of that one went black and wouldn't change, even when there wasn't any code, and the button wasn't working when I took it off the breadboard and sautered wires to it and you know what, whatever, it wasn't that great of a box anyways and when I taped my mishmash two breadboard-Arduino-battery pack monster together at the end it was pleasingly hand-friendly, with my left thumb conveniently over the ever-necessary reset button, right hand free to gesture and occasionally press the button to show the second screen. I really just don't know what went wrong; even when I went back to my original setup, a new GLCD, original stunningly functional code, checked all of those wires I don't know how many times, power supply, resistors, potentiometer, I even at one point put everything on a different Mega, it would just quit after varying amounts of time, when before it had not been an issue, it would read and RFID, print, the button would work and you could leave an RFID on it for half an hour and it would be fine [I know because I accidentally did that], I don't know, and it's disappointing because it would have been so much more awesome if I wasn't afraid of someone else dropping little Frankenstein, people could have had short interactions, followed the production paths they wanted to, alas.

Some last in-progress images:
I think I broke this GLCD :/

an example of the GLCD quitting, later figured out one I broke, the other wasn't getting a good enough of a connection :( you can see I'm getting a little frustrated
the tragic box that started everything crashing- it had a button, a hole for the power switch, and I cut out part of the side to fit the screen in. I tested the RFID and it worked fine through the plastic, which makes sense, just as soon as I started to move things: [insert the sound of failure]

Later edit:

I felt reeeeally stupid when I figured out that holding the screen at an angle to the breadboard gave it better connections and resulted in it blanking out far, far, far less, to the extent that I wasn't afraid anymore of no one but me touching it, ergo:

Further comments made:

It's more informational than art: I agree, I had issues and my translation of the thing is that it's more "artistic" than art. I would need a more clear idea of what I want people to think, trying to actively shape their opinions, to bring it closer to art; originally I'd intended for interpretations to be more open, but unless it happened to look like this and was placed in an art gallery, this could easily belong, in a more polished state, as a purely educational display.

Suggestions: The above, have a really clear idea of what I want to say. Keep info on how the materials are used in the process, alter the information on that second screen. I thought about maybe talking only about where the materials come from [seawater, mining, other materials [and then where those materials are from] and their final state [dumps, emissions, used to make asphalt, whatever]; I though about having multiple buttons and screens being able to display first general info, then from where the material comes from, then how it affects humans and environment; it was suggested incorporate video or image somehow, so I thought about using a different screen and making it display a series of simple images to generate "video," or using multiple screens, or having just lines on the wall and a video display on a screen on the wall, or it was suggested a projection, playing relevant information, or video pertaining to information that would be on a handheld screen, some combo of everything plus Wii plus food art plus music plus pumpkin carving, anything.

Summary: Interesting effort, we'll distil it down into "Possibility."