#memorymuseum

As we approach the last week of our program, there are objectives we still need to finalize in order to have a proper Open-Source DIY altar. Our goals include: 1) progressing beyond a breadboard circuit, 2) explore paper structures/origami for the altar’s hood, 3) cement a DIY friendly documentation , 4) academic poster revision for future presentations, and 5) staging the altar for a different cultural context. These objectives were defined on Friday, July 29. With this list before us, I began working on the DIY documentation by first taking the dimensional placement of all the inner components. Starting with the projector, I measured the distance from the projector’s side to the inner wall of the component box. I did this around all four sides to define the precise placement of the projector. I repeated these steps with each internal component. 

With these measurements my intention was to include the hardware into the altar’s 3D model. As soon as I began drafting these measurements up in Inventor, I realized I also need the measurements of the components themselves, not just the placement dimensions. So, I returned to the physical altar and made note of the hardware’s dimensions. From there, I continued drafting the 3D model in Inventor. This job took up the entirety of the Friday work day with some to spare for next week. I wish to note that the most challenging components to draft was certainly the Mirror and its easel. I had drafted an easel, previously, in a separate file. However, I drafted it specifically for making a cardboard print using the laser machine and not my for the current 3D model. This, combined with my limited 3D modeling experience I couldn’t import the easel file, so I had to remake it inside the current model. Making this 3D overhaul a long session of trial and error.

July 28, Thursday morning, upon arrival at the MakerSpace I spoke with Dr. Jone’s about our presentation from the previous day. During the conversation, it was suggested that at some point in the day we document the deployment of the altar during the presentation. In this context, Deployment is when the piece of technology that is being worked on is taken out of the laboratory for some “real world” testing and feedback. Outstanding, that even in the technological world, the concept does not stray far from the dictionary explanation of the term. In this post, I will detail the altar’s deployment from my observational lens. 

The day was Wednesday, July 27, approximately 30 minutes prior to our URCPP presentation at 4pm. The team was readying the altar for deployment. Considering our upcoming demonstration, we were aware the altar functionality has a tendency to be temperamental if the candle’s flame doesn’t glow just right. With this in mind, we packed two tea candles for self assurance. One gently used candle (the altar’s favorite) and a fresh candle, in case the altar doesn’t  fancy leftovers. As we entered room 356/357 of the MAC building, we immediately began the hunt for an electrical outlet. Though the projector was charged, the RaspberryPi requires a steady supply of juice directly from the source. Due to the limited length of the rPi’s power cord, we sought to use the outlets embedded in the desks. Tragedy struck when the rPi’s plug was too bulky for the electrical socket beneath the opening of the table. It was then, when I backtracked to the lab for an extension cord. Upon return, with extension cord in hand, I found the altar glowing, with rPi’s power cord at full stretch and its plug lost into the wired electrical crevice at the desk’s foot.

Just as one problem was solved, another emerged. WiFi connectivity issues kept us from running a headless rPi program initialization. This meant that invasive bluetooth keyboard surgery was required to bring the altar to life. Then we gave the presentation and demoed the altar. At the conclusion of the presentation, Dr. Bouchat reassured us that the altar worked as we had hoped and the altar's functionality was surprisingly visible to the audience, despite its small size. 

Every two weeks, three groups of URCPP students organize presentations to update other URCPP students and their mentors on the project/ research they have been working on. This Wednesday was the last day of presentations, and we were one of the groups to demonstrate our six-week process on the fabrication and replication of Thanato Fenestra.

We spent the first half of the week preparing for the presentation by reconstructing the altar, making final edits to the altar, and designing and testing our presentation. We rebuilt the altar because each of us have been working on further altar development. As I mentioned in a previous post, we built a new component housing compartment to get closer to finalizing the internal placement of the components. Additionally, we made some adjustments to the image processing program. We refactored the code so that when the altar is initialized, the program will log the ambient temperature and lighting of the room. By taking an environment “snapshot” at initialization, the altar will now be able to react to the condition of the tea candle without regard for ambient variations during the altar’s use. This has proven to be a more stable programmed solution for the altar, ensuring that less bugs will creep up during a presentation scenario. 

Simultaneously, we were sketching ideas for the URCPP presentation. Initially, we prepared a slide only presentation. The group was at a bit lost in regard to our approach in speaking about our altar. But after our initial practice session, Dr. Jones provided some much appreciated insight for improving the presentation. Not least of which was performing a live demonstration of how one would use the actual prototype altar. From there, our presentation approach was: introduction, high-level demo and explanation, lower-level sensor explanation, originating background, package explanation, and component comparison of the old and new altar.

Thursday morning, we had the pleasure of speaking with a PhD graduate student. They shared with us their current research endeavors and we had the chance to practice talking about our altar project. What stood out to me was that they are looking into the question of identity and how it is constructed. Moreover, they are using HCI as a vehicle to explore this gray area. The inquiry into the often fractured reality of human existence, or more plainly put, the analysis of people(s) with multiple ethnic identities and the trials and tribulations they are confronted with as a matter of who they are, has a direct connection to my lived experience. 

The student shared with us a few stories. One of them was about a German youtuber whose content is centered around them living life in Columbia. And though they are German through and through, they identify as Columbian. Surprisingly, no Columbian in their videos will contest this Germans adopted identity. This is because of the Germans commitment to living an “authentic” Columbian existence. It is through this daily commitment of “walking the walk” and “talking the talk,” that this person is able to transcend their birth place and birthright, and forge a new ethinc identity, AND be welcomed by the local community.

Conversely, they also shared stories of individuals whose multiracial identity can become a point of tension. For example, when they find themselves in a group of one of their ethinic identities, they are often labeled an outsider due to their multiethnic nature.Thus bringing into question the “purity” of cultural roots. In these instances, one is often peer pressured into amplifying one of their identities by suppressing the pieces of themselves. It is easy to see how this social dynamic cultivates fertile ground for an identity crisis.

The internal component organization of the altar has been riding in the back seat until this week. Earlier in the week a team member handled the cable management of the computer and circuit, along with implementing some innovative solutions for the projector tilt and its power button. This concise internal editing made room for some potential design changes as we may now be able to have the projector, computer, and circuit, directly under the circular frame. This means that almost nothing will be placed behind the paper screen, with the exception of the mirror. If that is the case, then the only thing that will require accommodation post-screen is the mirror and the projected image. This leaves a lot of dead space for us to whittle down. And this inquiry into the altar redesign is what I investigated on Friday of Week 6.

I made cardboard cutouts with the laser cutter to make another electronic compartment box so that I could take measurements of the angles for the projector and mirror. Gluing the last prototype made it difficult to gather angle information, so this time I made sure to precisely attach the box components with the blue painters tape and leave out the front wall to make maneuvering the projector and mirror easier. Securing each component in a way that allows for reconstruction and deconstruction makes gathering iterative prototype information more feasible, especially when trying to conserve materials. Because there is always something new to measure or a step that was overlooked and increased editability allows one to backtrack in the prototype process. 

With this taped box without a front wall, I placed the projector with ease under where the circular frame would go, and the mirror at the back. I should note that a team member was running some tests with the full prototype elsewhere so I was without the laser cut circular frame, so I made due with the octagonal frame. With the octagonal frame now set on the box, I turned on the projector and angled the mirror upward and the image displayed as desired. I recorded some measurements and started experimenting with the placement of components. Once the team member returned with the Circular frame, I ran the same adjustments as I did with the octagonal frame. Of course the circular frame lent itself to different measurements. 

On Thursday, we were looking into further design solutions for our altar. In particular we were trying to find a more attractive “hood” for the altar. Our current hood cover resembles a ribcage and when it is wrapped in paper the overall aesthetic of the altar resembles a 19th-century prairie schooner. While it is possible to make more laser cutouts of the arches, this route does not lend itself well to material conservation as using the laser cutter to make circle and semi-circle cutouts leads to the majority of the cardboard being wasted. Perhaps, one way to reduce the waste from our circle problem would be to divide the circle into fourths and stack the arches one on top of the other.

In the meantime, a colleague and I investigated an origami technique suggested by Dr. Jones. This architectural design can turn a sheet of paper into a structure capable of bearing a load greater than itself. A plus is its geometric pattern is rather visually appealing and reminds me of Ikea lamp shades. 

To make the paper structure, take out an 8.5 by 11 inch paper and fold it lengthwise into eighths or eight equal columns. Then draw diagonal lines from the tip of the first fold to the tip of its opposite. Do this in both directions so that it produces diamonds. If done properly, the edges of the diamonds should intersect at the creases only. Then fold the paper along those freshly drawn lines. You should now have a piece of paper with creased diamonds throughout. Now all there is left to do is to crease, pinch, and fold it until it forms a barrel-like structure. However, this is far more challenging than we gave it credit for. So if you find yourself struggling, remember the phrase, “mountain peaks and valley sweeps.” This is a trick we learned from a peer next door where the idea is to bring the peaks of the diamonds together while making sure the valleys remain “sweeping.” In the end you should be left with a geometric paper tunnel.

While the origami paper barrel did add visual interest it did not have the lamp shade effect that we were hoping for. The light from the projector only shone through where it is directly reflected. For us to have a glowing altar we are going to have to include lights just for this purpose.