Temporary Riparian Zone
--part of the 2020 Hackers and Designers summer school--
https://hackersanddesigners.nl/s/Summer_Academy_2020/p/Temporary_Riparian_Zone
Preparation pre-workshop (installing butt):
https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/temporary_riparian_zone_instructions
Link to interface
http://82.199.133.204/files/trz/
Link to Etherpad
https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/temporary_riparian_zone
- During the workshop we would like to explore ways of "streaming" to each other, both through text (via Etherpad), or through audio (via Icecast). We will reflect on the processes that arise from using these tools, by considering forms of online live-ness and simultaneous participation that manifest through listening, waiting and responding.
- A stream is a body of water with surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Starting from this visual, we imagine that the pad and the icecast server have different ways of moving information down a channel. And as we are part of its flow, we can affect its rhythm. We will use pads to write the content together that we will be channeling to each other. It will then be transmitted live over a series of broadcast channels co-existing in a live composition interface.
- The workshop will be split into two sections: first we will be doing a few writing exercises on Etherpad. By doing this, we will also start creating scripts and scores which can be used in the second section, the audio streaming section.
- We will have a moment of togetherness in the last 20 minutes where we will perform to each other and listen to each other. This last section will be recorded with your consent.
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~~~><>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to the Temporary Riparian Zone workshop.
A few things you should know about this space:
- The pads are not indexed by search engines, but anyone who knows its URL is welcome to read and edit it.
- Varia makes its own backups, meaning the contents of all pads sit on our hard drives potentially indefinitely.
- The availability of the pads is subject to cosmic events, spilled drinks and personal energies.
- Both the physical and digital spaces of Varia are subject to our Code of Conduct <https://varia.zone/en/pages/code-of-conduct.html>
On this pad, we will be paying attention to dynamics in speaking and listening.
» Be supportive. Be curious.
» If you have a question, ask. This is an experiment in streaming together from a distance.
» If you are having trouble with the technical setup, you can find us here: https://meet.waag.org/hdsa2020-trz
» We appreciate any screenshots and/or sound files you have gathered during this session.
» We would like to ask for your concent to record the session. Especially the last part where we all listen to the recrordings of each other. If your part dont want to be recorded let us know in the chat.
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Programme: Thursday 23rd July 2020, 10:00-13:00
- We will wait 5 minutes for everyone to come in.
- Welcome everyone, we're very happy to be here with you.
- Please press Play on the audio button in the interface next to ENTER.
10:15-10:20
- Welcome back.
- Please write your name on the pad below and a memory you have with a stream of water.
10:20-11:20
- We will start by warming up with a few exercises in which we explore the liveness of the pad (interruptions, simultaneous writing, additions, deletions). In this section we will start building the scores that will be later on performed and turned into audio elements.
- Exercise 1 (10:20-10:25)
- Pick your colour from the colour wheel on the top right corner.
- Pick a line number on the pad and make a space on it to indicate your position.
- Start writing simultaneously at exactly h:mm and try to reach the end of the line first as fast as you can. The text that remains needs to be coherent.
- Exercise 2 (10:26-10:30)
- Now we will experiment with "pad listening" and "pad speaking".
- Form groups of two by writing your nick/names next to each other.
- Choose one of these two actions:
- - Start with the first few words of a sentence
- - "Listen" to what the other is writing and step in if you think you can continue their sentence.
- Switch up these roles.
- Exercise 3 (10:30-10:45)
- Write a 5-line paragraph starting from one of the following terms, which are all taken from this page:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riparian_zone
- hydrophilic_plants
- foreshoreway_networks
- logging_operation
- wake_pattern
- river_bank
- soil
- wetland
- meander
- wildlife_corridors
- plant_litter
- stream_buffer
- root
- flood_zone
- streambed
- watercourse
- rock
- weeds
- aquatic_animals
- biofilters
- Write about them in relation to computational streaming.
- Exercise 4 (10:45-11:00)
- Choose someone else's paragraph and intervene in it by: deleting content, replacing words (with synonyms, antonyms, etc).
- Exercise 5 (11:00-11:15)
- Altogether we write a text simultaneously where we try to imagine what our riparian zone looks/feels/sounds like.
- End of first section (11:15-11:20)
- Take some time to rest, read the sentences above and think about what you would like to take with you into the next section, where we will be making our scores by reading out loud the texts we wrote together.
5 minute BREAK
11:25-12:25
- This second section consists of audio exercises in which we listen to ourselves reading aloud and in which we start working towards the sounds that we broadcast to each other through the Icecast server. Icecast is a media (audio & video) streaming server. It takes in requests that we send to it through butt and channels them through mount points.
- Check if we all have the clients ready to broadcast (butt for Windows, Mac OS & Linux, and additionally Soundflower for Mac OS).
- If you are having difficulties connecting or installing, Angeliki and Cristina are here: https://meet.waag.org/hdsa2020-trz
- For everyone else, please continue with the exercises.
- Exercise 1 (11:25-11:45)
- Choose a mount point from the list on the pad and write your name next to it:
- hydrophilic_plants
- foreshoreway_networks
- logging_operation
- wake_pattern
- river_bank
- soil
- wetland
- meander
- wildlife_corridors
- plant_litter
- stream_buffer
- root
- flood_zone
- streambed
- watercourse
- rock
- weeds
- aquatic_animals
- biofilters
- This is now the point from which you will be broadcasting to everyone else and how others can find you.
- Use the name of the mountpoint you picked and add it in the butt server settings.
- In the Settings:
- Click ADD or EDIT Server → Name: w-i-t-m.net
- Type: IceCast
- Address: w-i-t-m.net
- Port: 8001
- Password: trz
- Mountpoint: [the one you chose above]
- IceCast user: source
- Click ADD or SAVE
- When the window closes, click SAVE again in the Configuration section
- Take 10 minutes to prepare something, from to broadcast for 5 minutes.
- Split between listeners and broadcasters in groups of 2 by writing your names in pairs again below this paragraph. Find a space on the pad to meet each other.
- → For 5 minutes, one of you is a broadcaster the other is a listener.
- → If you are a broadcaster:
- Choose parts of the texts we made and start streaming: click the Play button. If you click the red Record button too you can save your experiments as audio files, and reuse them. When you finish, press the Stop button. If you want to stop the recording, press the Record button again. Change the name of the recording file to something memorable that connects with the content. Use your voice in different ways besides speech acts.
- → If you are a listener:
- Listen to your group partner and leave notes about their streaming in the pad.
- → In the last 5 minutes, the roles are reversed.
- Note: when playing the stream from the interface, it takes 5-10 seconds for the sound to load.
- Exercise 2 (11:45-12:00)
- In this exercise, we will play a recording that you have made in the previous exercises. Or play sounds related to streams that you find online. (If you need inspiration, try https://freesound.org/, https://archive.org/details/@radio_aporee or similar sites) You can do this by:
- → Changing the audio device in your butt settings in the tab Audio (choose your soundcard which is the device that connects to the sound coming from your computer and not the microphone). Change the channel to mono if it is not connecting.
- → Choosing a sound that you want to be repeated (recording or other sounds).
- → Streaming and play the sound in loop through VLC or other media player.
- We all stop and click all the mountpoints and listen to our composition.
- Exercise 3 (12:00-12:20)
- Prepare/choose what you would like to perform for the others using the material and techniques you've been experimenting with.
- Record it.
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**SIMULTANEOUS STREAMING**
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12:30-12:40
- After the experiments, we'll have a moment of playing and listening to the radio composition that has emerged over the course of the workshop.
- Everyone plays their recording and we spend time listening to the landscape of sounds made by all contributors.
- In the butt settings go the tab Audio. Change the Audio Device to the soundcard if you want to play a recorded audio file or leave it on default if you want to use your microphone. Change the channel to mono if it is not connecting.
- We will listen to eveyone in a row