[dorkbotsea-blabber] Brainstorming Emergent Communication Procotols

[Wim Lewis]

On Jan 21, 2009, at 9:27 PM, shelly at hive-mind.com wrote:
> This next meeting will be devoted towards answering questions and  
> brainstorming for the upcoming (summer 2009) Seattle Dorkbot  
> "Strange Things" art show.
>
> For this year's People Doing Strange Things with Elecricity 4 we  
> are inviting artists to create and collaborate on works that  
> explore the theme "Emergent Communication." Artists are encouraged  
> (but not required) to work in groups to build pieces that  
> communicate with each other (and potentially the viewers and  
> environment) in novel ways  [....]

Coincidentally I was rereading this paper recently:
     http://www.merl.com/publications/TR2003-035/
     "Very Low-Cost Sensing and Communication Using Bidirectional  
LEDs", Dietz, Yerazunis, Leigh

The bidirectional nature of LEDs comes up now and then but rarely  
seems to get much use. Anyway, this paper develops some possible uses  
of the idea a bit more than most. I especially like the sort of  
coöperatively-clocked bidirectional communication protocol they  
developed (read down to the "iDropper" section).

One thing I think is interesting is that self-communicating artworks  
seem to usually use either completely invisible means (like RFID) or  
completely visible/perceptible means (touch, sound, light). But this  
communication is somewhere in between --- an imperceptible, or  
sometimes barely-perceptible, modulation of a very visible light, in  
fact a light designed to be used as an indicator for humans to see,  
but which easily carries information we can't see.