Essex Project Ideas

Originally what I had written in the survey was:

-I'm not exactly sure, I just know that the experience I want to create should be able to be used in addition to the tours available at the museum. For example, I wouldn't just want to create an app that replaces the job of the tour guide giving out all the information, but something that can be used with the tour guide. Perhaps something showing videos of the processes and such, because I know when we were touring I had really wished we could have seen how some of the things actually worked (and the tour guide said they usually just do it for younger tour groups and such)

I'm still at a similar standpoint, where I'm not really quite sure what I want to do. I think it'd be interesting to learn more about the processes of shipbuilding, as well as things that are unique to the Essex Ship Building Museum. I'd like to make it a fun experience for those visiting the museum. 

I am also open to other ideas as well, and just learning as much as I can. Perhaps it'll inspire me to better brainstorm ideas. 

As for programs I'd be interested in using, I honestly would be open to trying any of them out. I will say that I have tried the ARAF browser before (with the coursera lessons) and found that I had hit quite a few snags with it not saving my progress. But yeah! I'm really open to experimenting in any of them!

FINAL IDEAS

FINAL IDEAS
LOCATION: ESSEX SHIPPING MUSEUM 

For the final project, I am very drawn towards the Processing software, as well as Aurasma. 
I find myself at a crossroads between simple software, or complex software. I have never used any type of processing/3D before, and am enticed at the challenge. This may benefit me more so than choosing the simpler option, however I am weary as to what I can accomplish with it in the given time frame. Do I want to struggle and make something new with something new? Or do I want to create something new, simply, with something already known?

My options thus far are as follows: A series of auras--either around the cemetery, or around the shipyard itself. 
I had originally planned to use ghost images [of the past], and overlay them on 'real time' camera triggers--i.e. 3D triggers. 
I could do this, and create some type of narrative/collective series, OR I could use the processing software to generate flowers around graves, or have a forrest overtake the shipyard itself--as a kind of time lapse into the future without humans. 

Before I commit to developing either of these ideas though, I want to do some more research into my family history. I come from a line of Irish and French immigrants, and in the past have traced at least one side of my family to colonial Salem in the past. 

Emma Gallant: Ideas for Final Project

So, I'd like to do another "ghost walk" type project (as is the theme for all my projects, apparently...).

I'd like to use ARIS (but I wouldn't be able to test it), or Animate CC, or maybe a video walk type of thing.

A lot of my research is going to end up being about the people buried in the cemetery by the archives building.

Essex Project possibilities

In preparation for our extended final project, the Essex Project, you may use the tools we have already explored in class (Aurasma, ARIS) or you may choose to use another tool or tools. Here are some possibilities:

ARAF browser




http://www.mymultimediaworld.com/software/binaries/araf/

The ARAF browser only works for Android, and needs a data/internet connection to work. I have developed a quick start guide for setting up the Browser as an "app" on Android home screen here. There is a wealth of information about this particular program, and even a tutorial with multiple projects to test here.

Processing




https://processing.org/

http://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/augmented-reality-with-processing-tutorial-processing/

Processing is a generative coding system for the visual arts. The tutorial linked above was developed to the Creative Applications Network, of which Montserrat is a member. Use this login to see full details. Processing projects can be set to an iOS home screen to function like apps but may require internet/data connection to function.

Vuforia




https://developer.vuforia.com/pricing
https://unity3d.com/

Vuforia is a plugin that can be used in conjunction with Unity3D and Xcode or Android Studio to produce marker AND markerless AR overlays. Developing with Vuforia is free, and so is the student version of Unity. Limitations: Unity will need to be installed on a personal device, the Montserrat labs are not equipped with it. The labs are equipped with Xcode.

Adobe CC programs with Phone Gap




http://phonegap.com/

Unreal Engine and Unreal4AR


http://www.unreal4ar.com/

Unreal Engine is available in the labs, but the Unreal4AR plugin unfortunately costs money. We may be able to develop a workaround with the demo version that is currently available if there is interest.

Augmented Video




You needn't do coding or use any fancy programs! You can also create a convincing AR experience through video, as the Cardiff and Miller project above demonstrates.

In addition, you may use a program or method that you have found on your own; these are just a few examples to get you started and demonstrate what is possible.

Ghost Writers UPDATE

GHOST WRITERS HAS BEEN UPDATED

TEAM MEMBERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
--JAX
--KELVEN
--EMMA

PERSONS ON TOUR ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. FRANCIS(FRANK) ELLINGWOOD ABBOT
2. JOHN CARPENTER
3. LUCY LARCOM
4. WENONAH STEVENS ABBOTT (SOLILOQUY END)

PROGRAMMING CREDITS:
--OPENING ART--JAX
--FRANK AND WHITE ROSE--JAX
--JOHN AND MUSIC FLOWER--KELVEN
--LUCY AND LUCYS FLOWER--EMMA
--WENONAH'S END ART--JAX

it is this teams hope to encourage playersto venture through the central cemetery

and have an experience that which connects lives lost to lives that remain

the flowers given at each grave site must be dropped--

i.e. RESPECTS MUST BE PAID iN ORDER TO ADVANCE

The flowers that are dropped, are not destroyed, leaving a collection of flowers in the cemetery in the ARIS database. 

This feature is fitting, don't you think?

essex shipping museum, make-up

To make up for the first class trip, 

On Wednesday, February 15th, I went by myself on a venture. 

To the Essex Shipping Museum. 

I gathered many photos for reference, 

unsure of what would inspire my last project ideas, 

but collecting whatever data suited my fancy, anyway.

I spoke with Justin for about two hours, and enjoyed my tour. 

We hit it off quite nicely, despite a fear of awkwardness on a tour alone,

as I mentioned one of my best friends/colleagues 

happens to be a tour guide over in Concord, MA at the Old Manse.

I am setting up yet another private tour with him now, 

for a tour of specifically the cemetery nearby. 

I ventured through the maps of the cemetery in the archive. 

 If you haven't noticed yet, guys,

clearly, I have a thing for cemeteries.

game test

Li Yun and Jack's group project
username: liyun&jack

Stick With It!

Our game is called: Stick With It

A game of finding lost things! Hope you enjoy!

Our Game is Called Ghost Writers

Natalie Jeremijenko

Natalie Jeremijenko is an artist of interest when it comes to the broken, especially in regards to communities, and she is also an artist that uses technology in novel ways.

The Artist Who Talks With the Fishes

Environmental Health Clinic

Natalie Jeremijenko

things that are broken… maintenance, repair

I mentioned "maintenance art" during our discussion of things that are broken, yesterday. Thought I would list some links on the subject. The most recent have to do with the artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who has a show at the Queens Museum (ending this Sunday 19 February).

See this lovely short notice by Blake Gopnik — Mierle Laderman Ukeles Made Trash Collectors Feel Like the Muses; and

this overview by Ben Davis, What Mierle Laderman Ukeles’s ‘Maintenance Art’ Can Still Teach Us Today (artnet, September 20, 2016).

See her Manifesto for Maintenance Art (1969)

more on maintenance

The Maintainers organized a conference on that topic in 2016 (schedule here) and has a fascinating CFP (call for papers) for a second Maintainers II: Labor, Technology, and Social Orders, to happen April 6-9, 2017

Andrew Russell and Lee Vissell, Hail the maintainers : Capitalism excels at innovation but is failing at maintenance, and for most lives it is maintenance that matters more
Aeon, 7 April 2016, and

Christopher Mele. "At Repair Cafes, ‘Beloved but Broken’ Possessions Find New Life." The New York Times (January 18, 2017

Things that are broken as a theme relates to ruins (when is a building at its ripest? some architects have designed structures with their ruination, a thousand years hence, in mind). What gets broken? connections. relationships. hearts —

Sheila Marikar, "What Becomes of the Brokenhearteds’ Stuff" (The New York Times, 6-7 July 2016), on the Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles.

And then there's the vast literature on and of failure. and ruins. and more on failure (all in our library!)

These are the kinds of detours — and concepts — that might animate and drive our Location Notation Relation inquiries.
 

Wenonah Stevens Abbott

I am a frequent user of the Google Books Advanced Search tool in my own work, and did a quick search for Wenonah Stevens Abbott, not as author but as an "exact phrase" in books and journals published before December 1923.

That search turned up quite a few hits, e.g., —

"United : An occult sketch," Mind 1:6 (March 1898) : 351-354
(don't miss title page of this issue)

"What our sisters are doing : Work of the Women's National Socialist Union," The National Magazine : An Illustrated Monthly 17:1 (October 1902) : 39-40

I would only add that much of the pre-1923 material that is visible to users in the United States, is not visible elsewhere (including Canada and Europe). Where it is important that the source be accessible outside the U.S., it's good to try to find it via archive.org.

Hope this is helpful.
 

Francis Ellingwood Abbot, diary begin; Wenonah's soliloquy, end

Francis Ellingwood Abbot Research
[information condensed]

In his student journal, nine days after meeting the pale, hazel-eyed Katie Loring, he wrote, ''Katie is in my head the whole while, and I cannot bear to think of never seeing her again. ''

Courting at the house in Concord, Mass., where Katie's family were lodgers, the young lovers sat by the fire reading Milton and Byron aloud to each other. On Jan. 25, 1857, three weeks after they met, they became engaged, and on Aug. 3, 1859, shortly after Frank graduated from Harvard, they were secretly married by a minister in Nashua, N.H.

By the fall of 1893, Katie was dying. ''Tonight after tea, kneeling before her in her own arm-chair, I asked Katie if she loved me as well as she did in our first days of engagement,'' Frank wrote in his journal on Oct. 21, ''and, throwing her arms around my back, she kissed me and said, 'Yes, better, far better.'''

''So I love you; and you have been just the best wife that ever was.''

''And you,'' she replied with tears in her eyes, ''have been as good and true as any mortal could be.''

Two days later, Frank wrote: ''My darling dies.''

This is a love story with a tragic ending: on Oct. 22, 1903, 10 years to the day after Katie died, at 54, Frank Abbot, still heartbroken, committed suicide by swallowing poison on her grave, in Beverly, Mass.

A compulsive diarist to the end, he left his suicide note pasted in his final journal. ''I do not fall out of this world by accident as a lunatic,'' he wrote. ''I do not sneak out of it as a coward. I go out of it as a free and proud soul, with open eyes, at the command of honor and love.''

grave location @ : 42.5508881,-70.8710251
SOURCE

for ARIS

Wenonah Stevens Abbott, the end point

A Souls Soliloquy 

Snow Day Update

So, over the snow day break, I made a little flower icon for our game, and I chose which image of the grave marker I wanted to use (if we end up using one). I was also thinking about how our game would end up incorporating all of the ghost's information, and I started to think up a design for turning the poem I chose into a .pdf. (Note: Jax's flower looks way nicer than mine).
findagrave.com

The flower:

The image of the headstone:

The preliminary poem .pdf:

Things to do:

-figure out how the player is going to go about finding the flowers/items

-figure out how the player is going to learn about the ghosts

-create dialogue to find objects

-create/decide on the order of ghosts/objects found

-create game on the group account

-assemble the game

-meet up with cemetery worker

-put everything on the map

Andrew Sliwinski

Today we got to meet a visiting artist (Andrew Sliwinski).

I got him to check out my art and his way of design gave me alot of advice on how to approach my thesis. He also showed me this video called power of ten which I suggest looking at because it is a very interesting and thought provoking film. It essentially talks about how insignificantly significant we are.

John Alden Carpenter

John Alden Carpenter was a classical music composer. Born in Park ridge, Illinois in 1876.
He is the direct descendent of John Alden who was a passenger on the mayflower. He is a Harvard graduate, class of 1897.

This was his debut song as a composer titled, Violin Sontana.

https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.559103&catNum=559103&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-alden-carpenter-mn0001522052/biography

progress

For the group project progress: The broken things.

We created the base story setting and plaques. The next step we need to take pictures and start to create the conversations.

Flashdrive sticker reward done for our Montserrat Quest system

ARIS

PROJECT: Ghost Writers
LOCATION: Central Cemetery, Beverly, MA
OBJECTIVE: Player must follow the guided walk through/tour, pick up flowers and drop at the grave sites of the persons of interest within 'game'. Player cannot advance unless they have done the flower action. Flowers unlock the next step. 

TASKS ACCOMPLISHED: white flower, in pixels 

TO DO: 

1. get other flowers from team mates

2. upload to ARIS

3. begin/finish tour 'game' 

                   within week

✴

Science Fantasy Convention

www.arisia.org

Cool, and fun Science Fantasy Convention that runs every year. It has an art show. Gaming room. Signing booths, and lots of reasonable priced homemade steampunk gear.

ARIS Project

Project: Lost Things!

Location: On Campus

Our project will be a series of quests to search for lost items (such as art supplies for a class, or keys to your studio). We want to incorporate stickers in with this idea to have a real life element, so for example; you follow the story and end up where you're supposed to go to retrieve the lost item, you not only would get the item in the app, but there would also be a sticker of said item in the location as well that you can find and collect! 

For this project we will also be creating some of our own characters, as well as possibly using people from the school. 

ARIS

Project: things that are broken.

Location: Central Cemetery, places the have broken tree.

In our group, we are doing the things that are broken, we are going to write a fiction story, and fiction history about the broken things that are easily found. I am writing some fiction story of the grave stone in Central Cemetery, the fiction story will be created on on some true information from the online sources.

ARIS

PROJECT: Ghost Writers
LOCATION: Central Cemetery, Beverly, MA
OBJECTIVE: Player must follow the guided walk through/tour, pick up flowers/series of flowers, and drop at the grave sites of the persons of interest within 'game'.

PEOPLE:

1.  Francis Ellingwood Abbot (jax)

                                                              Katherine Fearing (Loring) Abbot

                                                              wife of Francis Ellingwood Abbot--buried at central cemetery

link to his book--scientific theology 

https://ia600204.us.archive.org/14/items/scientifictheism00abbo/scientifictheism00abbo.pdf

book of poems, letters to his wife -- requested through Noble 2/6

http://uudb.org/articles/francisellingwoodabbot.html

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39024399

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/nyregion/harvard-student-s-love-story-endures-beyond-grave-and-archives.html?_r=0

3. Rev. Wenonah Stevens Abbot

poem: A Soul's Soliloquy

Today the journey is ended,
  I have worked out the mandates of fate;
Naked, alone, undefended,
  I knock at the Uttermost Gate.
Behind is life and its longing,
  Its trial, its trouble, its sorrow,
Beyond is the Infinite Morning
  Of a day without a tomorrow.
        Wenonah Stevens Abbott—A Soul’s Soliloquy.

4. John Alden Carpenter (kelven)

-song entitled 'rest' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jds84Oadh2w (jax)

                see kelven's blog post

5. Lucy Larcom (emma)

-poems

                see emma's blog post

items that need to be created:

-digital art---flower/series of flowers for player to find, pick up, drop at graves

I am working on setting up a meeting with Thomas Scully, someone whom knows the history/cemetery well. I created a joint account on ARIS for the team. See email for details. 

ARIS project (WILL UPDATE AS NEEDED)

Title: "Ghost Writers"

Basis: A scavenger-hunt styled game in which the players learn about certain writers/composers found in the Beverly, MA Central Cemetery. The player will have to hunt for a flower/series of flowers with information about said writer/composer and be able to find, pick up/drop at the graves.

Below I have included some information from www.poetryfoundation.org's website about one of the poets that will be in our game.

GHOST:

Lucy Larcom

Poet Details

1824–1893

Poet, abolitionist, and teacher Lucy Larcom was born in 1824 in Beverly, Massachusetts. Larcom’s father, a sea captain, died when she was young, and her mother moved the family to Lowell, where she ran a boarding house. Larcom began working in the Lowell textile mills with her sisters when she was just eleven years old. During this time, her poems and stories began appearing in periodicals such as the Lowell Offering, and she first met the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who became an early supporter of her work. When she was 22, Larcom moved west with her sisters and became a teacher, first in Illinois and later at Wheaton Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts.

Larcom’s poetry was first included in the anthology Female Poets of America (1849), and her collections of poetry include Similitudes, from the Ocean and Prairie (1853), Poems (1868), and Wild Roses of Cape Ann, and Other Poems (1881), among others. Her poems appeared in prestigious journals and magazines such as Harpers,  the Atlantic Monthly, and the New England Magazine; her poem encouraging fellow abolitionists to settle in Kansas, “Call to Kansas,” won the New England Emigrant Aid Company prize and was printed in newspapers across the nation. As Whittier’s long-time friend and correspondent, she also anonymously edited three volumes of his work.

Larcom’s most enduring work, however, is generally considered to be her autobiography, A New England Girlhood, Outlined from Memory (1889). Recollecting her years in Beverly and Lowell, Larcom’s narrative is a richly detailed account of gender, labor, and class in mid-nineteenth century New England.

Larcom died in 1893 in Boston, and was buried in Beverly. Larcom Hall on the Wheaton College Campus is named for her.

Specific Poem on flower (that I'd like to use):

The Nineteenth of April

Related Poem Content Details

BY LUCY LARCOM

This year, till late in April, the snow fell thick and light:

Thy truce-flag, friendly Nature, in clinging drifts of white,

Hung over field and city: now everywhere is seen,

In place of that white quietness, a sudden glow of green.

The verdure climbs the Common, beneath the leafless trees,

To where the glorious Stars and Stripes are floating on the breeze.

There, suddenly as Spring awoke from Winter’s snow-draped gloom,

The Passion-Flower of Seventy-six is bursting into bloom.

Dear is the time of roses, when earth to joy is wed,

And garden-plot and meadow wear one generous flush of red;

But now in dearer beauty, to her ancient colors true,

Blooms the old town of Boston in red and white and blue.

Along the whole awakening North are those bright emblems spread;

A summer noon of patriotism is burning overhead:

No party badges flaunting now, no word of clique or clan;

But “Up for God and Union!” is the shout of every man.

Oh, peace is dear to Northern hearts; our hard-earned homes more dear;

But freedom is beyond the price of any earthly cheer;

And freedom’s flag is sacred; he who would work it harm,

Let him, although a brother, beware our strong right arm!

A brother! ah, the sorrow, the anguish of that word!

The fratricidal strife begun, when will its end be heard?

Not this the boon that patriot hearts have prayed and waited for;—

We loved them, and we longed for peace: but they would have it war.

Yes; war! on this memorial day, the day of Lexington,

A lightning-thrill along the wires from heart to heart has run.

Brave men we gazed on yesterday, to-day for us have bled:

Again is Massachusetts blood the first for Freedom shed.

To war,—and with our brethren, then,—if only this can be!

Life hangs as nothing in the scale against dear Liberty!

Though hearts be torn asunder, for Freedom we will fight:

Our blood may seal the victory, but God will shield the Right!

Source: “Words for the Hour”: A New Anthology of American Civil War Poetry, edited by Faith Barrett and Cristanne Miller (University of Massachusetts Press, 2005)

Larcom's Work:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/lucy-larcom

Larcom's headstone is located in Plot Larch Avenue, Subdivision 8, lot 229, and is towards the front (the part that the player will be walking on) of the lot.

Some more info from https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=larcom&GSfn=lucy&GSiman=1&GScid=90861&GRid=94842456&

"It is strange that the spot of earth where we were born should make such a difference to us… If I had opened my eyes upon this planet elsewhere than in this northeast corner of Massachusetts, elsewhere than on this green rocky strip of shore between Beverly Bridge and the Misery Islands, it seems to me as if I must have been somebody else, and not myself."
In this quote from the autobiography of her childhood, A NEW ENGLAND GIRLHOOD, Lucy Larcom remembers the town of Beverly, Massachusetts, where she was born, May 15, 1824. Her father, Benjamin, was a sea captain who died when Lucy was 11 years old. Lucy's mother Lois, moved the family to the mill city of Lowell, Massachusetts, where Lucy got a job in the Lowell textile mills. Lucy and her sisters wrote for and co-edited the Lowell Offering, a literary magazine by and for the mill workers. At age 22, she moved to St. Louis with her sister Emeline Larcom Spaulding and her husband Rev. George Spaulding. Lucy took a teaching job in Illinois, and after graduating in 1852 from the Monticello Female Seminary in Godfrey, Illinois, she returned to Massachusetts and took a position teaching English literature at Wheaton College, in Norton, Massachusetts. She began publishing her poems, and was a protégé of John Greenleaf Whittier. She died in Boston, Massachusetts, April 17, 1893 and was buried in her home town of Beverly.

ARIS online manual

Can be found here, includes video and documentation of the demo we did today in class.

the week ahead

 
Monday 6 February

We work through a tutorial on ARIS — a user-friendly, open-source platform for creating and playing mobile games, tours and interactive stories.

Access the ARIS authoring tool here.

We will also discuss our respective team's projects for the second (ARIS-based) project.

Jack (JD) and Li Yun — things that are broken
Alexandra and Sarah — things that are broken
Emma, Jax and Kelven — things that are lost (Central Cemetery)

We will also meet with librarian Cheri Coe to get a sense of where useful resources might be found.

 
Wednesday 8 February

Our guest on this day Andrew Sliwinski, a Research Scientist in the LEGO Learning Laboratory at the MIT Media Lab where he explores the intersections between learning, creativity, and technology. From what I (John) have seen of his work, Andrew is interested in the creation of means by which people, of all ages, can engage with content in a significant and meaningful way.

Among his active research projects is Scratch – an online community and tool for kids to explore their creativity through computing which reaches over one hundred million children every year. Prior to joining MIT, Andrew served as the Director of Learning Research at the Mozilla Foundation and co-founded DIY.org. He has served as an advisor to the Chicago Public Library, LEGO Foundation, and The Aspen Institute.

An advocate of open design and engineering practices, Andrew contributes to various open source projects and has released over 40 individual software libraries. Most notable amongst his contributions have been projects related to natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, signal processing, and computational creativity.

As a designer and engineer, Andrew has worked with various organizations during his career including: General Electric, Adidas, Hewlett-Packard, Toyota, Universal Music Group, and JetBlue. His work as a creative technologist has been displayed in The Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Carnegie Hall.

andrewsliwinski.com
 

Central Cemetery Plantings

I have obtained Central Cemetery's planting records for team use, see me for full size files.

Android Version of ARIS

It appears there is a beta version of ARIS for Android that we can test out in class: https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=49

Sounds like it's still a bit buggy, but I will be setting it up on my Android device for testing to see if it is usable for those of you in class who don't have an iOS device.