What can the Orison do?

This project has somehow managed to almost cease.

I have managed to spend the last 2 weeks distracting myself with other projects, work or general laziness. Today however, I have managed to have a good chat with Paul regarding the Orison, its capabilities and I have given him my copy of Cloud Atlas and told him which chapters he needs to read to get the gist of it all.

Whilst discussinf the Orison with him I remembered a project by Microsoft which aims to do a similar kind of thing to the Orison [maybe someone there read Cloud Atlas?] so I am going to research this project further.

As for our quote "We are all robots when uncritically involved with our technologies" I had not considered it until today.

My initial thoughts are derived from part of my conceptual thinking for my studio project which is starting to look at communications & surveillance.

Basically my starting point was a statement from Iman. He stated that computers follow a very specific set of protocols for every single method of communicating with other computers and peripherals - making mis-communication difficult, if not impossible.

So despite the fact that computers and other machines are created by humans, we must also follow certain protocols in order to use them to their fullest potential. Surely this could be reffered to as being robot-like? The interfaces that we are presented with require to use them only in one or two ways [or maybe 00110001 or 00110010 ways? - binary joke].

I think that, althought the Orison is the starting point, different methods of interfacing with technology will become a large part of our research/presentation.

The Orison

What the hell is an Orison?

That was one of my first questions with this project, and despite having read about 280 pages of Cloud Atlas that was still plaguing me. In reading the chapter titled "An Orison of Sonmi~451" all I knew was the the device was a silver, egg shaped object which could record both sound and images. WAHEY! [deliberate hint of sarcasm here] it sounded like a gimicky video camera/sound recorder. That doesn't sound so special now does it?

OOOH!

Last night I finally reached the end of "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After ". This in itsef was a mission as it is written in the dialect of a post apocalyptic tribe living on an island near to Hawaii [I think].

The chapter did however unlock a whole lot more information about the Orison and it's application. The Orison is activated by human touch. When held it vibrates and glows into life.
It seems that it can project video footage from its tip [I picture R2-D2 and the Princess Leia message from the original Star Wars movie].

This projection method seems pretty advanced [I am unaware of current developments in 3D hologram projection]. The real power of the Orision it seems is its connectivity to other Orisons across the globe. The Orison is a smart [if you have read Cloud Atlas that term should be familiar, if you haven't read it, tough!].

The owner of an Orison has access to the information acquired by every other Orison, they can also contact and video conference with other Orison owners. The Orison can also be used as a tool which can interface with various other technologies [Meronym uses it to unlock various doors on Mauna Kea].

Learning this, along with the proceeding slaughter of various different tribes, led me to continue to the end of the chapter and I would have continued to at least the end of the next Sonmi~451 chapter had it not been 2am, and if I hadn't needed to get up at 06.30 for work!

So at the moment my plan is to develop some form of PDA based Orison. I'm not sure how much of the fictional Orisons' capabilities I will be able to mimic/re-create but it could make for an interesting [and no doubt very confusing] train of thought/practice.

Virtual Environments Brief :

Examine a given communication technology in relation to a pre-selected quotation.

Throughout history there has been a turbulent relationship between technology and cultural, political, sociological, philosophical and ideological views of the world and humankind.

In order to fulfil the requirements of this brief you are expected to research and critically evaluate issues deriving from a synthesis of the technology and quote. This should result in a unique presentation with a personal agenda. Working in pairs, or indivdually, you are expected to create a distinct piece of Multimedia to house your research and your ideas. You will be marked both on the design and functionality of your digital presentation as well as the spoken content and conceptual framework.

Within this project you must also make and present a piece of work to supplement your perspective. This should be housed within the framework you design and build. This could be conceived as video, animation, 3D environment, web link, interactive shockwave element or audio piece.

Carefully consider the most appropriate method for presenting your ideas, as you will be marked on the suitability of your choice. For example, if this involves additionally sending a letter to all members of the group, you will be marked on the written content of that letter as well as the digital presentation you give.

All students should be prepared to answer any questions at the end of their presentation.

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OK! So we all know that sounds great!! As for the technology and quote we where given :

Quote - "We are all robots when uncritically involved with our technologies" - Marshall McLuhan, War & Peace in the Global Village.

Technology - "Orison" - A technology of sorts found within the pages of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

So initial thoughts [actually written after having read a few chapters from Cloud Atlas] - What the hell is Orison, it's a technology in a book so surely I can only learn about it from the book? Surely I can probably make up stuff about it? How could I be proven wrong?

I hope that the book reveals enough about the technology for me to get a good grasp of it, and then allow me to consider potential uses for the technology other than those in the book. Perhaps I will also be able to extend upon its 'current' capabilities to further develop the Orison as a technology/device/thing.

As for a multimedia piece... NO IDEA!! although I have read that War & Peace in the Global Village is said to be similar to Darwin's theory of evolution in terms of its standpoint on technologies. This may be a good starting point for the final piece, something which can continue to evolve and develop as time passes and user requirements become more apparent.

Who knows?