One possible script for the presentation

It's long-winded and overly emotional. But that's just how I write. P:
Perhaps our audience would be motivated if there were free drinks in a little cooler, just next to our bench? Just sayin'.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, could you please join us by the lawn.

Thank you all for coming with us. We've worked very hard all semester to present you this: *remove covers*

What you see before you appears to be a simple bench and box with an interface. In brief… it is. And these are the bench and box that will alter how people interact with Saint James Park in a fundamental way. By combining elements familiar with the park with those that are of a more unique nature to it, we stir up a compulsion within members of the community to confront and interface with the park in ways that are relevant to both themselves and the park.

Let's start with the box, shall we? This box is meant to represent the interface members of the community will use to interact with the park. By leaving what they have to say in text, audio or video form, they will be adding to Saint James Park's immense and important history by contributing the MOST important history— theirs. In fact, anyone who would like to experience how this will go, we have a partially functional version of the system on the box itself, which any one of you are free to experience for yourselves. These shared experiences can be perused and browsed either through this box or on our website, ___________. Several of these will also be experienced on our benches.

…which brings me to the bench. You see here our, er… SUBTLY modified bench, with an LED ticker and speakers. This is the prototype of our bench that will have scrolling text experiences along the front AND back of the bench, with buttons that can be used to start and stop audio experiences at the armrests. This way, simply by sitting in the bench, members of the community are able to experience the park in ways unlike ever before. And, of course, if they simply want to relax without taking in ALL there is to the park, they may simply choose to do so as well.

And, as you can see, it's still perfectly useful for sleeping in. :)

But these are worthless, ladies and gentlemen, without a cause. Why bother modifying benches or constructing computer-like boxes, after all, if they won't serve a purpose? This is something our group has discussed for quite some time, and we can provide this. Our box and bench experiences provide a means of connecting with the park… because it is a park worthy of lively communication with its community.

Saint James Park is one-of-a-kind. For being so rich in political history, it suffers such an immense amount of neglect. It has played host for the raising of political spirits and the rising of lynch mobs. It has simultaneously hosted the movers and shakers of the Silicon Valley and those who are shaking from a drug high or for lack of a blanket for decades, no, centuries. The area, whether taken in as a collection of experiences or as one interdependent whole, is drowning in historical relevance!

But with its wealth of history comes a price— people simply don't care. A site that once hosted a presidential speech is now more of an unofficial public lavatory. A statue of our 25th president with a formerly working cannon now stands as a hangout for hoodlums. A once-flowing and beautiful fountain that has represented the park for much of its life is now as dead and desolate as the rest of the park. So few people care. It's not that they don't want to— many of the citizens we spoke to had high opinions of the park— it's just that there's such an immense DISCONNECT. There's so much historical importance that it's hard to see how it matters TODAY, in the here-and-now. "Who are we to care of this place's history?"

That is precisely how we addressed it. These members of the community, like most of us, don't realize that we are connected to such a place's history because we ARE the history! Our collections of experiences are exactly what shape the areas in which we interact! By walking our dogs, by going for a stroll, simply by BEING THERE, we shape the future of Saint James Park every time we set foot in it! This idea is why we decided to create the interface— it presents members of the community with the fact that they ARE the movers and shapers of that park, and it wants to know HOW. And everyone has a HOW. They just don't know it, until they realize that it's the little things that they very often brush off— being propositioned for marijuana or sex by a passer-by, playing frisbee, being late for the bus— it's these little things that are precisely what make the park what it is!

You may notice that I've used the word "Experience" a lot. It sounds like a cheap tactic to sell you something, right? And, yes, perhaps the nature of this presentation IS to sell you on the idea of how these work. But to merely get you enthusiastic about the idea isn't the point I'm trying to make. The point is, history is made up of experiences. Not of events, like many would suggest. Events happen all the time. When you blink, that's an event. When you take a bath or shower or otherwise groom yourself, that's an event. When I MOVE my ARMS in a WAY of EMPHASIZING each WORD, that's an event. (Or maybe a collection of them?) But that's not what makes history. A collision of events, usually about two of them, or one shared event, is what makes an experience happen. The interactions that happen, the feelings that are aroused in these events, THESE are the experiences I refer to so often! And by collecting these experiences and re-expressing them across the park, we display to its members the wealth and importance of their simply being there, how it makes sun an impact on St. James Park, and, in turn, the rest of San Jose!

…awfully fiery words for a box and a bench. But the point holds true; without presenting the park to its participants in a way that is relevant to them— and, in turn, giving THEM a chance to interact with it— nobody will care. Because the park, as it stands, does not appeal to its citizens on a personal, unhindered level, they will not care for it on a personal level. And that's why our little duo here is important. These two are what will reacquaint the park with its world-changing audience.

Interface for Box

I'm currently uploading the SWF and HTML of the Flash-based interface for the box. Not everything on it works, but I did manage to get:

• Updating text/comments for sharing text in the "Share // Text" section
• Several audio clips being selected at random in the "Experience // Audio" section
• Microphone presence in the "Share // Audio" section
• Navigation across the entire interface

At this point it's just a matter of picking the aesthetics for the interface itself. I'll post the link to the existing interface shortly.

UPDATE: http://dma.sjsu.edu/art101a/t_stebbins/interface/interface_design.html
It takes a while to load (LARGE piece 'a Flash— 62.8 MB!! That's for all the audio and features to work though).

St. James Park "Talk to Me"

Current Cost of Materials

Most of which I have receipts to back up... I'm not counting tax, I can eat that:

• One King-Size Black sheet: $15
• One Bench: $88
• One Ticker: $65
• One pair of mini-speakers: $15

Thus far: $173. Let me know if there's anything for which I've forgotten to account.

St.James animation

About the Ticker

The ticker we just got is called the MediaBrite Classic 213C-1. It requires "programming" in a simple WYSIWYG editor that, in the exclusive case of this particular ticker, can only run on Windows 2000 or ME. As in, anything XP and beyond won't work (or so they claim, I imagine if it runs in DOS it'll run for XP just fine). As of yet there is no programming resource for Mac that I can find.

EDIT: I stand gladly corrected! "MacBrite" will do the trick nicely. :3 I need a different cable than the Ethernet that goes between our modern-day laptops and a wired connection (it appears to need a phone cable of sorts!) but ultimately... WE CAN PROGRAM IT. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY.

EDIT 2: So we'll need to use Macbrite on a computer that has a SERIAL PORT. Tomorrow I'll check to see if such a resource exists in the CADRE lab or the IRC (USB to Serial adapters exist and are quite cheap, if a bit hard to find) ; if not, we'll have to use a Windows computer running XP (at the earliest) to run it.

SJP sketch

Here are the Google SketchUp design if u want me to change anything jst holla back.