From the midterm presentation, I learned that I need to focus on the presentation itself moving forward rather than content only. I need to slow down when presenting my ideas, especially since I’m much more acquainted with the material. People really enjoyed the thesis trailer, which made sense since it carried a lot of visual representation of my explorations. The script I wrote for it could also have been slowed down but I could write it out as a separate manifesto when presenting the piece later on.  For the show-a-thing presentation, I moved the video as well as a few new videos demonstrating prototype to later slides. Instead, I began with my question, a more detailed explanation of my interest in RFs, and a map of ontological interfaces, the speculative logic/topology that laid the groundwork for my conceptual journey.

For the show-a-thing presentations, I signed up to meet with Annelie Brenner, Sarah Rothberg, Anna Greenspan, and Tiri Kananuruk.

I loved talking with Annelie – I think she understood my concepts and intentions very well, and I chose to meet with her because of her work with data visualization. The main takeaway from her was that I should think about using an analogy for the signal process, either by introducing analogous data (perhaps on climate change) or other types of sounds to let people compare and contrast. She mentioned that there’s been recent research on how weather and climate change affect signal transmissions and by monitoring signal disturbance, one could gain a better understanding of changes in the environment. I admit I felt kind of flustered after this meeting because I definitely thought I had to return to the drawing board to think about how to incorporate other data / other points of reference.

In my meeting with Sarah, she helped me think about my audience and the presentation of my thesis as a personal journey (which was in my original proposal but I left that out in the presentation). To her, it was important that I start off with the prototype before diving into the concepts. So, for the evening presentations, I moved the videos to the front once again. I think it was helpful to frame three different audiences, ones that all had varying levels of knowledge on my topic and my fascination with digital signal processing.

After the morning presentations, I was feeling a little disheartened, thinking that I really had to return to re-developing some of my concepts and that what I had already established as a topic of interest wasn’t enough on its own. I explored the idea of using an analogy in my 50 days, where I added bird sounds to the electromagnetic hum inside my laptop and it seemed to have generated a good response from peers.

The evening sessions went much better than the morning. Moving the videos the front helped, especially the threeJS visualization on network or signal culture. I think what helped with Anna is that she is already well-informed on my topic and also has a deep fascination for it so I didn’t have to prove why it was important enough on its own. It definitely provided validation, especially the relevance of the electromagnetic spectrum as a medium for data flows. She sent me a lot of academic reading on radio/electromagnetic experimentation which I’ve started digging into — there’s so much history on the development of wireless communication that I hadn’t known about!

The last conversation I had was with Tiri, who really gave me good pointers in the performance aspect of my thesis. She was very down with the conceptual components and suggested getting into the duet experimentation as soon as possible. There are a lot of unknown possibilities in signal manipulation based on the spatial positioning of the equipment, as well as the people performing. I think I definitely have a fear of user-testing this part, since it does involve finding an enthusiastic partner, as well as retaining the concepts. I don’t want to run into the risk of developing the performance based on what sonically becomes attractive or possible!

Things I’m focusing on this week: going through more of the research Anna sent (it’s a lot so I definitely have to be mindful with the time spent on reading) and building out the duet prototype. I am meeting with Afroditi, who Despina mentioned and has a very relevant, inspiring project on signal embodiment and archival. I’m hoping to ask more about antenna fabrication, since part of my installation exploration is on the idea that all things / all bodies are antennas. How can I play with the re-positioning / movement of bodies as antennas in space? I also hope to meet with Rudi, who might be able to help with some of the radio engineering aspects of the installation. Excited for developments this week!