LAB1

Digital String Phone

Concept

The generation that I grew up in, generally saw the world change a lot in term of Digital Technology. I remember the really big television that was present in our little house, with only a few channels to chose from. I remember our old phone that was still attached to the wall and the huge old computer that my brother and me had to fight for whenever we wanted to play games. I remember asking my mom if I could go in the Internet, and the incredible sounds that the computer made when connecting to the internet. I remember the first phone I got when I was 12, a NOKIA3310; which I only used to play spake with, of course. 

Ever since, the Digital World has changed immensely as technology grows exponentially. As a tribute to all of these nostalgic memories I wanted to combine all in one installation, using the concept of a String Phone, something that I used to play a lot with when I was little. 

Creation 

Even though a String Phone originally is analog, for this installation I chose to make a Digital String Phone. This way, it becomes possible to integrate the nostalgic sound of my digital past into the installation. For this I used a Touch Board by Bare Conductive which is based upon Arduino. The Touch Board allows for an SD card to be inserted which carries different sound files that are connected to pins E0, E1, E3, E4 and E5 of the I/O board. 

These then are connected to aluminium threads that are then connected to two tin cans. The Tin cans are attached to the wall, using the threads in between to connect both. In order to make the threads individually touchable, they are separated using conductive tape. 

The code that is run on the I/O board was written using Arduino and functions as touch sensor. As every thread is connected to a different different pin (and every pin connected to a different sound file), whenever a certain thread is touched, that exact file will play. 

The project was presented during the class expo at the LIACS institute. As the installation is meant to be touched, the verbal presentation was very short; instead the users were invited to touch and play with it. Below you can find some pictures of the set-up of the installation.