Remember when we all carried wrist watches? One of the unintended
casualties of cell phones is the death of the watch. Wrist
watches gave everyone their own personal time. "I have 8:30, but I'm
running a little fast" – you won't hear this
now that everyone carries a phone that has the "correct" time.
I propose to create a web site and cell phone application that will
tell the user their "real time". The Real Time will be based not on the
time zone you are in, but on your distance from the prime meridian.
Your friend who lives a little east of you will have a slightly earlier
time. What's
the time distance between you and your friend on the other coast? Three
hours twelve minutes, if we are both at home.
This project will work in two parts. The first is a website that
displays the "real time" using the ip address of the computer to obtain
the current location. The website will also have a download for an
iphone (or ipod touch) that will allow the user to know
their real time at any given location. As I develop the project and as
technology on phones progresses, more cell phone (and PDA) applications
will be available for download.
The following example will only be accuarte if you happen to be in
Chelsea New York. Chelsea is at 70 degrees Latitude. 1 degree = 4
minutes, so real time in Chelsea is 40 minutes ahead of "normal time".
Source code: RealTime1
Built with Processing
Of course having another system of timekeeping is going to be
complicated.
I'm aware that actual adoption of Real Time is unrealistic. The site,
however, will never acknowledge this fact. It will be steadfast in its
idea that through the use of this program we can reconnect ourselves to
the "reality" of time.
According the website, real time will:
1. Return a sense of
"personalized time" that the wrist watch gave us and the cell phone
took away.
2.
Reinstate our connection to the planet, promoting a much needed global
awareness. With Real Time, the sun sets at the same time for everyone
(if they are on the same longitude).
3.
Broaden our understanding that "time" and even "cause and effect" are
human constructs, not laws of nature.
4.
Give the next generation a built-in understanding of Einstein's theory of General
Relativity from which new ideas and inventions will be possible.
5.
Use the very latest in new technology to "step back" to a erra before
the invention of time zones. (Yes, Real Time is an old idea.)
Although Real Time is a bit far
fetched, the site will raise some serious issues. Should (or can) we turn
to technology to answer the larger issues that face our species?
Isn’t internalizing General Relativity a much more exciting
species altering proposal than anything NASA or theoretical physics has
offered us in the last twenty years? Many religions and cultures use
the rising and setting of the sun to organize their daily rituals - what
if we used our technological gadgets to re-establish a connection to
the planet? What if the goal of technology was not a compulsion to make
life "easier" and more "organized" but to push and challenge our sense of awareness?
I will need to work with people to realize this project. First and
foremost a programmer to help with the applications, both on the web
and for the iphone download. Second I would like to work with a web
designer to achieve just the right "look" for the site.
The timeframe for this site will be ongoing. We should be able to
create a web application and site reasonably quickly. The iphone
application will take more time. The website does not need to remain
static – it can change as the project grows and people begin
participating.
Budget.
Programmer – $1750.00
Me – $1750.00
Web Designer – $1000.00
Ipod Touch - $300.00
Website Url and server space – $200.00
Work Samples
1. Recompiled Google Street View Van from store window reflections,
photograph, 2008
2. ALH84001,0
The mos Famous rock in the world.
In this interactive presentation/website I examine a decade
old controversey about a martain mereorite that may or may not have
contained fosilized bacteria.
Runtime 12:30.
3. The cell phone piano. This is one of a series of sculptures made
from old cell phones.
Each
key on the keyboard is wired into a key on a cell phone - as you play,
you are also dialing. The channels are mixed together and amplified
through speakers. Every sound the piano makes is generated by one of
the four phones. Movie
4. Accidental
Mpegs
A collection of videos
shot on digital still cameras by mistake.
