Media Experiments

For the Dissemination Lab we have crowd-sourced ideas of new techniques to try out. These come from both experienced researchers, enthusiastic amateurs, and grade-school children. We will document all the different projects we test out in this spot when we get back!

Some Ideas submitted for testing
tweet a picture every 5 minutes for 24 hours
tweet a drawing every 5 minutes for 24 hours
share a fitbit or other health monitor - what is the pulse of the expedition
set up a GoPro on time lapse to record camp activities
pair kids from the local village and have them go to the field as a "biologist" and the other a "journalist", kids switch in the afternoon
image every animal found during the day from 4 different sides

(EVEN MORE IDEAS)

1. Insect clock - how do different animals plants and insects come out in the day or night. CAN you say its Bug O'clock for example and tell the rough time by insect or whatever....
2. Mars has a curisoity rover - can we have a rover there that we can piolot maybe with Minstorm Lego software - and with real Earth-o-nauts we can ask you to follow up on what we actually find - so we can see what sensors detect and what is really there. So life microbes in the soil etc.
3. Human micorobiome project - can we extend that microbiomes to compare what is found in that project to what you find in Antarctica with Ruissian drills and what you find in the rainforest - so 3 diff locations - do we find parrellel,. convergent etc. evolution.
4. I realise you want to connect with the public so in a PLOS1 type way can we have some digital overlays for time lapse trackers showing how much your presnece / interference is in the forest and then look at if this has an effect on wildlife behaviour.How about making a long 'exquisite corpse' drawing of all wildlife you encounter in a 24 hour period, creating a 'new-hierarchy' which evolves through chance.Have a go pro attatchment to you chest and have a live stream all day every day.Have a go pro attatchment to you chest and have a live stream all day every day.Sensor nodes in various locations that are able to pickup environmental/fauna shifts and send back this movement to a central data logger. With data that logs the temperature, time, humidity, animal migration times, animal sounds, C02 readings... A very useful map of a given area could be displayed and used to instill a better understanding of the location.Submit it to a peer-reviewed journal> http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2006/09/design-noir-the.php\n>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/hertzian-tales\n>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/speculative-everything"]">What if ants had discovered electricity?
imagine what if ants had discovered the flow of electricity through different materials and found ways to use it for their own purposes? what kinds of conductive materials would they have discovered, how would they manipulate these materials to create electric circuits? what would ants use electricity for? what devices might they build? would they use these devices to study humans?

this story could be told by building tiny scale functioning electronics that could possibly have been built by ants. photos of ants seemingly pulling together materials and parts to construct such circuits could tell this story.

another way to tell this story could be to imagine the crazy other kinds of devices that ants would build. devices that would serve very ant-specific purposes. instead of building functional electronics, imagining these devices and constructing props for photos and videos. bringing back these props to use to tell this story in an exhibition could built up a whole narrative around the secret life of ants.

inspirations:
design noir >> http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2006/09/design-noir-the.php
>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/hertzian-tales
>> http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/speculative-everything> http://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyo-rail-system/\nDIWO >> http://www.furtherfield.org/features/articles/diwo-do-it-others-%E2%80%93-no-ecology-without-social-ecology\n"]">Do It With Ants (DIWA)
as opposed to DIY (Do It Yourself) or DIWO (Do It With Others). how could we coordinate with ants to construct functioning circuits? could they drag together material to form conductive paths between components, build three-dimensional structures that can be used as speakers, motors, sensors? define routes between parts to create circuits layouts?
this could become a nice workshop topic to involve locals and local materials and crafts to think about what kinds of things (not just electronics) could be built in collaboration with ants.

inspirations:
slime mold >> http://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyo-rail-system/
DIWO >> http://www.furtherfield.org/features/articles/diwo-do-it-others-%E2%80%93-no-ecology-without-social-ecology
> http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/ \n"]">Another Perspective
record the expedition from the eye of another animal, possibly a bird that could fly above and observe actions of researchers and hackers from above. use imagery and video to tell this story in real-time via twitter.

inspiration:
>> http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/
Natural Speakers, Local Sounds
make speaker membranes using materials found on the expedition. bring back these examples and use them to play-back field recordings made on the same day the speaker was created.

if the speaker is made form materials that will change over time (dry out, crack, break, grow....) record the speaker playing the recording over time. capture an example every day and collect these examples to be played back later through a good sound-system.Light Communication
use flashing led lights to communicate sensor data wirelessly to the eyes of the observer/researcher. possibly capture video of the light communication for later analysis.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogram\nuse photosensitive emulsion to capture light drawings made by animals at night. apply emulsion to leaves and other natural materials and store them in light-tight (dark) container for later development.\ninspiration >> http://www.leighannelangwell.com/\n\nLight-Painting\nuse torches, LED lights, phosphorescent materials and anything that makes light to \"draw\" on the jungle at night or attach lights to the surrounding sand have them move by themselves....\ninspirations:\n>> http://jannepaint.wix.com/jannepaint-2\n>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/ibroomba/\n\nSun Drawing\nuse the sun as light-source\nCyanotype paper >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotype\n>> http://www.diyphotography.net/make-your-own-photogram-cyanotype/\n>> http://www.instructables.com/id/Cyanotypes---super-easy-photo-prints-at-home./\n"]">Night-Life Capture
some ideas for using light at night to capture images of the jungle and it's inhabitants....

Photograms
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogram
use photosensitive emulsion to capture light drawings made by animals at night. apply emulsion to leaves and other natural materials and store them in light-tight (dark) container for later development.
inspiration >> http://www.leighannelangwell.com/

Light-Painting
use torches, LED lights, phosphorescent materials and anything that makes light to "draw" on the jungle at night or attach lights to the surrounding sand have them move by themselves....
inspirations:
>> http://jannepaint.wix.com/jannepaint-2
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/ibroomba/

Sun Drawing
use the sun as light-source
Cyanotype paper >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotype
>> http://www.diyphotography.net/make-your-own-photogram-cyanotype/
>> http://www.instructables.com/id/Cyanotypes---super-easy-photo-prints-at-home./
> http://www.popkalab.com/ramblershoes.html\n>> https://twitter.com/ramblershoes"]">Ant's Twitter
inspired by the rambler shoes, set up a sensor/trigger so that ants can tweet.

inspiration:
>> http://www.popkalab.com/ramblershoes.html
>> https://twitter.com/ramblershoes#TrueOrFalse Game

a game we could play with our twitter followers. every evening we tweet a description of something we experienced that day, which will either be true or false. followers should reply to the tweet and discuss what they think of it. not until the end of the expedition do we reveal which stories were real and which we made up. we can then add photos/videos of the true encounters to show they really happened.

inspiration:
tim flannery's astounding animals book, where he writes some true and some make-believe accounts of animalsBananaLeafPhones - make speaker coils on banana leaves and turn them into headphones. get footage of entire field team sitting around campfire staring at smartphones with their bananaleafphones on.what would be the equivalent of a smartphone (device for tackling today's global village and urban society) for expedition and filed-work lifestyle?

(THIS LIST WILL BE REFINED SHORTLY)
crowd source the any sketching that needs to be done. Stream video (probably impossible) or tweet a photo of something that should be sketched, let people submit these, and incorporate one or two into a report. Live tweeting - especially difficult research decisions (ie: why did you decide to do, record, or track X instead of Y, and what factors led to that decision)

Instagram pictures of interesting animals?

NASA has a Twitter account for their rovers, which draw a lot of public interest... maybe something similar?

Google Maps - route tracing for any expeditions in the forest
Make a google street-view like interface of the trails you work onEach field member could take a one-second video on their mobile device every day, compiling them into one big super video at the end of the project.interactive insect sonic map: google map with playable insect sound samples mapped to specific locations
environment relation map: interactive map where each species selected shows links to other symbiotic elements and their locations ( animals that thrive on plants that feed insects, etc etc)
Take normal mundane video of interesting things and turn them into an amazing kaleidoscope of color form and sound. Here is a sample link of a work I did after hurricane Irene devastated our valley. It is the creek bed area. This can be done with insects or fauna.

Sample link:
http://youtu.be/fS-pkh78Huswebsite with a live video from where they arewebsite with a live video from where they areGoPro time lapse of the campGoPro time lapse of the campSkype with a science classSkype with a science classPost video of animals' daily lives on YouTube, or use online live streaming sevices.Post video of animals' daily lives on YouTube, or use online live streaming sevices.Try to find animals and post an social media what they think the animal is

Try to find animals and post an social media what they think the animal is
make blogs about what you are planning to do that day in the morning or the night before, and then around lunch time make another blog about how its going, and at night tell how the day went. Share trials along with funny stories and help us get to know everyone better. Maybe switch off bloggers each day.make blogs about what you are planning to do that day in the morning or the night before, and then around lunch time make another blog about how its going, and at night tell how the day went. Share trials along with funny stories and help us get to know everyone better. Maybe switch off bloggers each day.YouTube,IMovie,TVYouTube,IMovie,TVmake blogs about what you are planning to do that day in the morning or the night before, and then around lunch time make another blog about how its going, and at night tell how the day went. Share trials along with funny stories and help us get to know everyone better. Maybe switch off bloggers each day.make blogs about what you are planning to do that day in the morning or the night before, and then around lunch time make another blog about how its going, and at night tell how the day went. Share trials along with funny stories and help us get to know everyone better. Maybe switch off bloggers each day.LivestreamingLivestreamingUpload interesting findings to YouTube Upload interesting findings to YouTube Use a thermal detector to detect any bodies.Use a thermal detector to detect any bodies.Make an outline of the field research site and tweet it.Make an outline of the field research site and tweet it.Have a webcam on someone's head to show us what is going on.
Have a webcam on someone's head to show us what is going on.
Take a science class from a local school to show them around and get them interestedTake a science class from a local school to show them around and get them interestedTime lapseTime lapseYou could go around to villages or schools and give demonstrations to show how fun it could be, it would get the kids to be motivated.You could go around to villages or schools and give demonstrations to show how fun it could be, it would get the kids to be motivated.Climb a tree with a lemurClimb a tree with a lemurGoPro time-lapse, GoPro time-lapse, Got tons of ideas :)