Exercise 1:

A Disappearing Language

Solution B is the better many-to-many solution. While I do think Solution A would be more effective at preserving the language, as it would provide some context on how the words are intended on being used and allowed others to learn the language themselves; Solution B provides a more many-to-many solution, as one population, the Passamaquoddy school children, shares their family stories to another population, the online community.

Neglected Ruins

Solution B is the better many-to-many solution. Solution A is a very interesting art installation, but that is a one-to-many strategy as the only person who is initially communicating is the artist. Solution B is a many-to-many solution as it allows other “adventurers” to contribute and share their own photography, which can later be viewed by others.

Misunderstanding Computer Animation

Solution B is the better many-to-many solution. While neither are what I would consider to be traditionally many-to-many, Solution B is practical example of the variation “Share What Was Inaccessible” in the Assignment 8 guide. This solution provides the public with a how-to look at how to produce successful animation that the industry was going to try to keep a secret. While both solutions take a look behind the curtain, Solution B is more in-depth, much more accessible, and does a better job at providing future animators with the skills they need, rather than just demonstrating the processes of how animation is made.

A Broken Fountain

This one I found to be tricky, as both strategies aren’t what I’d consider to be a many-to-many solution in the traditional sense of the phrase. I consider Solution A to be the closest to the variations of many-to-many solutions. I think this follows the “Tap Into Local Networks” variation, as the new garden takes advantage of not only the environment, but provides beneficial plants for the community.

Exercise 2:

Visual Art is Too Static:

Interactivity within art has almost been an interest of mine, an interest which helped lead me towards becoming a New Media major to begin with. I’ve always been interested in creating an interactive mural based on shadows, where a light would be cast on a blank wall with a projector adjacent to it. Every 30 seconds or so, every shadow being cast on the wall would be captured and projected as a snapshot in time. Over two minutes or so, the shadow would fade away so that the whole installation wouldn’t be covered in one large, conglomerate of shadows. This would also allow overlapping shadows to appear as two different shadows, rather than one large shape. I got this idea from an installation in an interactive exhibit at MIT, where there was this machine which appeared to be similar to an airport baggage handling machine, in which you could put in a bunch of stuff you had on hand, and it would capture a photo of your stuff and have it move down this conveyor belt, while also including images of stuff people had put into the machine earlier throughout today. It would be interesting to apply this same strategy in a large scale application, in a high traffic area to create a mural full of motion using the people who had actually just been in that spot.