Hector Leiva

Link to site can be found here.

I’ve bitten the bullet and renewed my iOS developer’s license for another year. I will need to wait still for a bit to be able to create a more stable version of the app. I’ve found that there are people very interested in this app and I’ve already submitted awhile ago for several art shows and although I haven’t been contacted back if they are interested in showcasing the app – at the very least it will be available.

I am still working diligently on learning Java/Android development regardless.

I have been thinking about how the application is going to continue on for awhile. I knew that the day would come when my developer’s license would expire and I needed to decide whether it was worth it to renew it for another year and keep my sort-of broken application on the iTunes store. I know either I was going to wait for a bit to save enough money to upgrade my computer to be able to do app development – or not. I decided to let it go. The whole experience with Apple wasn’t the greatest; I didn’t like the amount of restrictions and the time to turn over whether the app was “accepted” or not. I always liked Google’s philosophies about open source-ness, but learning Java to get into their OS was always a tough hurdle since I don’t come from a programming background.

I am now trying to learn on my own Java to hopefully release this application again with more add-ons and actions that I thought should have gone with the original project. I am always looking for help/tips and if anyone that is reading this; give me a ring at this e-mail address.

Until then the app will exist for those that downloaded it for the 8-9 months it was on the app store. The app was a great step towards another world of media creation and using apps as an artistic platform.

With the continuation of the project I have stumbled on other projects that are incredibly similar to my own.

Broadcastr

This is still in its beta stage and I e-mailed them recently about how similar both our applications are. This by far is the closest to a similar project in terms of objective and execution that I have come to witness. One that focuses on memories and of their place of importance. In this case the founders were leaning towards oral story-telling in any manner; letting anyone submit their stories either through the website or a mobile phone.

I think I find issues with this particular application also in its method of using again: a rating system (of which “memory” is more important than others), and using twitter / facebook as a means to showcase that you left something important and other people show come to see it.

It seems pretty popular at the moment for an upstart and I am glad that they are moving forward with their work.

I wanted to address the issue of creating this application in spite of many of the other different variations of it. How many other applications exist already that: Geo-tag, Geo-log, track and track our movements to produce an alternative to alienation of your data to ‘fun-play’. When I was doing my research as to how these applications approach people and undermine their data, I had to experience them first hand to understand the vocabulary that the public was becoming accustomed to seeing. What do “green pins” on a map signify versus a blue-orb creating circles around itself mean in terms of the user? What are the words used when asking someone to signify that they are in a place?

Foursquare was one of the first apps I explored that takes your location and returns all local venus that have been either user-set-up or by business where you can “check-in” and gain a status  towards a reward for repeatedly visiting it. With my own personal experience and this article I am linking: we don’t like to check-in. The entire environment is flawed in a fundamental manner. Why do we have to compete against other people for mayorship? Competition on a level where I can check on the person who ‘stole’ my place from me constantly, track their mayorships around town – attempt to take it back – just breeds contempt for one another. The only communication a user can have with another is either leaving a message when you stole their mayorship (which you receive as an e-mail letting you know you lost it) or by tips that are left by people months ago. No sense of actual interaction takes place other than in past messages.

I haven’t used this system as of yet, but it has a lot to offer. People can listen to other people’s tours of a place and it has this openness and unifying factor to it. The way I addressed this against my own project is that woices bends closely to the terminal user (i.e. desktop users) who can experience this application from home. The rating system somehow rubs me the wrong way as well. How one person’s tour is worst than other seems rather irrelevent. If you decide to take someone’s tour or not is up to you the user to listen or not. To have a rating system to deter other people’s tours is very backwards and again envoking a sense of competition like foursquare. The creation of “My tour is better rated than your tour” or really wanting to have a “5+ star” tour is against the nature of people wanting to share their experiences with one another. I rarely see people or myself if I have this rating system in front of me, want to explore the places/areas that have something of less than “3 stars” (the whole rating system of stars is idiotic in the first place). It is already set-up with this rating system to depreciate the work others have put it rather than being open to anyone wanting this experience. I don’t want to look in my area if there is a woices tour and then just pick the “4+ star” one; I would rather just have these there, and let me decide in my own mind which one is good.

Janet Cardiff‘s “Walks” were the main inspiration of my work. She created these CD-audio-tours (this image is from a walk in 1991 entitled “Louisiana Walk”) that are records of the artist speaking about her own memories and the events unfolding to her as she continues a tour of the area. The excerpts on her site are wonderful and I highly recommend listening to them if only to understand how the project works. Listening to Janet Cardiff talk about a recording she had made of herself years before and wondering why she dreamt what she did. Arguing with whatever was said and listening to her witness the things around her are quite beautifully represented. Her voice lends to want to hold on to all her words. But these walks are scripted and can only work to a certain place where I think many people hold stories among every point on earth. What I wanted to do is extend this dialogue about place and time with the ability where anyone can make a recording and thus their own walks. GPS already tracks your movements whether on the iPhone or Android, so why not use this technology already embedded in modern devices to present something profound? Instead of competing with one another, share and understand the human condition.

I wanted with my project to force people with these powerful mobile devices out into the terrain in order to participate. There is an emphasis on place and memory that when listening or recording from a place other than the one you remember is quite different. Coming face-to-face with a place where you witnessed something distressing or beautiful – a sense of truth arises and truly affects the quality of the recording and your memory of it. I tried very hard to make sure that technically speaking; a high-quality recording at low cost to the user to create it.

I know there quite a few more projects that are very similar to the one I created. But I made sure that I wasn’t repeating what other companies or individuals have already made. I wanted to extend it beyond a “social-networking-tool”, one that would actually connect someone not to other’s, but their memories. The way the App is designed forces you to answer:

before even recording a single audio file. The app was made not to care if other’s hear it necessarily, but with this ability to record this place with this technology, what would you like to share about it?

Although many people would like to believe that technology does indeed split human beings apart and make them more isolated from each other. I believe in my usage of my work, it has the capacity to create greater understanding with the space around us. The relationships we have with each other needs to be celebrated.

I will talk about more “Geo-locative” work on this blog as means to create further understanding of the changing landscape of computing technologies. Until next time.

Hey everyone. I’ve moved the database and updated the application to point to a new server. All major networking issues have been addressed and should be responding correctly. The map view should now reflect all new entries since early April. If you have already installed the app, please feel free to update it via the iTunes store to the latest version (which should be 2.1).

Hey everyone,

I am in the process of figuring out what is happening with the database and networking system. So if you are seeing that the iPhone application says “Success your file has been uploaded” and there isn’t an update or your audio isn’t there – this is the reason why. I apologize and I am trying my best to get the work up and going again.

Once again, I am still working on the Android version; but I must be frank and say that I won’t be comfortable to program for Android until I have a stronger foothold on the JAVA language that the Android is written in. That will take time, but I am sure it will be more efficient than the iPhone version. Once that is done I will most likely go back and update the interface and update several other functions as well. To remind everyone, I have been working on the code on my own for a bit and all the workload is just on myself. Patience!

MFA Thesis Artist Talks took place in Fox Building of the MICA campus today. Tomorrow will be another round of them from 1-3pm in the same building.

Adam Junior “The Possibility of Connection”

Laura Hudson “Opening”

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MFA Thesis 2 opens today at 5pm till 7pm. Open to the public, reception starts at 5pm sharp.

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