The Internet of Things

The jolly bright lines at the start of this animation represent the beneficial effects of connections between things, but the chains represent the repression that could occur if everything is tagged and connected to everything else.

A radio-frequency identification tag.

This RFID is embedded in a wristband. It is used to make calls on a nearby phone. There are already rfid tags in many things, from labels on clothing in shops to mobile phones and travelcards. At present most uses are benign, as far as we know, but it is possible that in future every thing will be tagged with these devices, so there will exist a complete "INTERNET OF THINGS", which could lead to abuse of privacy etc. Some are already implanted into people. It helps them to find their keys etc, if they have failing memory. At present the signals from the devices can easily be blocked by a thin layer of aluminium and much other material, which is a disadvantage for their useful functioning. In future they may become so small they are indetectable, except by those who know where they are, and they may avoid being blocked.
There are some more images of rfid tags and their uses in the link "Claire's photos".

The green cartoon guy below has been well and truly tagged.

electric clothing

electric clothing
Originally uploaded by mclairec.

if you go to the link http://www.electric-clothing.com you will see this in a more interesting light

Dry point printing and photoetching.

Today I had an induction in the etching room into dry point work. I based my dry point work on one of the black and white "seed neurals" images on this blog. The first attempt consisted of a few simple lines, to get a feeling for how hard we should press with the tool. Later I cross-hatched areas of the printing "plate" using light and heavy strokes of the tool, and I printed two more examples. The method used produced intaglio prints, whereby the printing ink sits in the scratches on the plate and is pressed out on to the printing paper.

Above is a chine collee print. The black and white print was produced by a photo-etching process, and the coloured print was printed digitally on to thin paper and then attached during the printing process.

These images are based on hugely magnified photographs of seed surfaces (photographed with an electron microscope). The purpose and nature of the neural-like appendices is not yet understood, but it is thought that they must interact with their surroundings and receive feedback which determines the future behaviour of the seed.

neural networks collages

The patchwork above was made from nine prints on cotton fabric which were sewn together to make a headscarf. Each section was a collage of images of neural networks, found on the internet and manipulated with Photoshop. Two examples are shown below. The concept of a headscarf is appropriate for a fabric design of neural networks.

drug web cloth print

This is a print of the drugweb collage which I cropped and printed first on to transfer paper and then on to muslin. I added the names of some cities which are known as centres of drug use, because the collage was like a map showing large connurbations.

This is a collage of the drugged spiders' webs.