Here ends project one.

Project One
Final Post

The Concept
The story chosen from the Museum of Wellington is from 1927, the year that the 2YA radio station went to air. It provided new form of entertainment and a sense of connection beyond what was within the accessible household. With a mission to 'radiate joy', the radio station operated between the hours of 7:30-10pm (or there abouts dependent on the broadcast) with music and entertainment but eschewed any political or controversial matters on air.

In our age, the 1920s is often reflected on as a time of affluence and joy however, for New Zealand it was also a decade of racism at it's worse; one of only two countries in the world to [significantly] impose a Poll tax on Chinese immigrants (Canada, the other), our leaders made it increasingly difficult for the race to enter NZ and, once arrived, kiwis were far from welcoming.

It is this paradox that I am exploring through this project; that, whilst the national broadcasting agenda was to 'radiate joy', was it really an exhibition of affluent, joyous culture- or a political agenda to indulge public ignorance of a situation of poverty?

The Fruition of Concept
The interface is not activated until the set of silencers are set upright and placed on the user's ears. The interface explores the key idea of instead of 'tuning into' the contemporary society and its issues, listeners to the 2YA station were in fact 'tuning out' to what was going on around them.
Therefore, stage one [activation of the interface] is 'tuning out'. For this, images of the 1920s New Zealand affluent culture are played over a background of Wellington in 1927.
Stage Two is to 'tune in'- by squeezing the silencers closer to one's ears- as if trying to listen harder- this solicits another mouse click, overplaying images of Chinese immigration and poverty in NZ such as scenes from the gold mines and tax certificates.

The object also allows for the quality of the image to be 'tuned', like an old wireless.

The object uses original Construction ear muff shells in order to associate the imagery of safety: blocking out undesirable or harmful noise, such as immigration at that point in time was viewed, certainly not by all, but by many.


12 macro patches and interpolations-a-plenty later...

Final Build

From concept to concrete.













So many pragmatic problems...







like putting the ear piece on the wrong way








massed mdf has a great weight as an object- at a cost of the object's strength, so made metal plates to ensure connection strength of the ear piece to the headpiece







Creating a framework for a smooth (but not sloppy) 'tuning' scroll.












user comfort


User instruction and correct replacement [in order to reset the digital interface via mercury switch for next user

to an almost there set up...

feedback

REfinements.

last class we met with the Museum of Wellington curator.
This was a valuable session meeting with V one-on -one to discuss the refined direction's of our project.

The most discussed was my visual interface- the hierarchy of some graphics were too strong (e.g. the cloud), some graphics not prominent enough (i.e. the film should occupy the entire sky space) and smaller inaccuracies such as time-relevant typography.

Edits are underway.








It was discussed earlier that perhaps the 'headphones' should have audio, even if faint, to satisfy the user's expectations however, upon mulling this over, it is exactly that 'expectation' that I wish to surprise....or dissatisfy (firstly) but most importantly, they are silencers or ear muffs, not headphones. So, where I wasn't going to retain the neon orange shells of the safety muffs, I now will, to associate a well-known imagery of 'noise protection' to the conceptual ideas in the project.









A minor detail I enjoy about the orange shell is that they have "NZ Safety" branded onto each ear...reminiscent of the efforts of the national Poll Tax in the 20s- a matter a 'national security'.

proto type typing

the object_ having laser-ed up prototype one I decided to change the circuit board I was using for a more dependable (but larger) board- rendering the latest prototype redundant.
However, after tedious edits here and there a new model has been mocked up- fitting the switch board into the ear piece nicely.










a plate has been fastened to the foam piece so the right click is solicited by a 'squeeze' [a squeeze of very little effort to my delight...I was concerned it may have had to have been a forceful squeeze]










However, the tuner is still not resolved, it functions, but it's certainly not a smooth operator.

a little overdue] progress

intention_
by rendering question over the purpose of 1920s broadcasting, the users are encouraged to consider the motive behind contemporary media:
pleasure, perspective or propoganda?

digital_
the digital interface is near basic completion, however there are a several issues that require resolution. One is that rights to film footage is harder to obtain than first expected so I'm compiling images of affluence and racial hardship from the Turnbull Library to regenerate into movie files. If executed well, using animated stills will serve better than film footage, ensuring the lines between television and radio communication aren't blurred [a concern expressed during last review]
to ensure the visual interface is Wellington-locatable, the stasis imagery includes a 1928 photo of Oriental Parade (a then (and now), affluent area of real estate).

Finally, the largest concern for the digital interfacing is ensuring that there is indication that the earmuffs be squeezed therefore, soliciting a right click- this is being pursued but currently uses text to suggest there is more to discover.



object_
prototyping is underway, using construction ear muffs as a basis for investigation. The difficulty has been retrieving a mouse with a small enough switchboard to comfortably sit within one of the ear pieces.

new switches have been soldered on and the switchboard functions as it should.

future design decisions- currently I am redesigning the ear muffs so they can be custom made as a suitable object, considering longevity and suitability.