The Sounds of Silence

The Sounds of Silence

If you want to reduce background noise in your recording here are some suggestions.  Increasing the gain will just mean that the difference between your voice and the noise should be greater, so less need to increase the gain later which also increases the noise volume. The noise is from the internal circuitry of the mic / recorder, (or mic cable) and that is usually because of insufficient shielding from external radio frequency interference (RFI) which create noise in the internal circuitry.  These may not be possible to avoid in cities, as the neighbours' wifi and other radio sources will be present. Recordings far from cities have much less of that background noise because it is further away from all that RFI. The microphone cable can be a source of noise, so to check this you can try recording direct onto the recorder using the internal mics. You can also put an RF reduction device onto the cable. 

Audacity is a free program which can help with noise reduction. If the noise is regular you take a sample of it then the noise reduction removes this from the rest of the recording. You can also use a high pass filter to get rid of low frequency noise or a low pass filter to remove high frequency noise. 

Let me know your other ideas and I will include them here. 

Choose Your Own Utopia

The Future as we Write it. 

Chris Bonfiglioli 
Open University New Media Consultant

•     Sounding Coastal Change
•     Stories of Change
•     Earth in Vision

Is it a coincidence that many of the things described in George Orwell's 1984 and in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World have already come about in some form, or have been paralled in unexpected ways?  

The question is whether the stories led the reality or the reality was born from the stories.

The original Utopia by Sir Thomas More describes the an early 16th century idea of a perfect society.  Utopias, and science fiction works in general tell us just as much about the time in which they are written as they do about the future. But they also point the way to choices, good or bad ones. 

We are living in a time when technological changes are being chosen quickly and with little or no public debate. Who is choosing technology such as driverless cars, airport scanners and lethal drones? Surely we don't still think that technology is just something that happens to us?  No technology is chosen by us all either passively or actively. Even if our involvement is merely to acquiesce it is still political involvement.

    Photo by Martin Sanchez 

      

Photo by Simon Fitall    

Many of the films we watch are dystopian. Perhaps the present would be better if we started dreaming of better futures? this ties in with ideas of spaces of hope; designing spaces for better ways of living.  (David Harvey). The healthy cities movement (Len Duhl) and all the developments of this are also part of the search for happier, healthier ways of living. 

         

There is no Away

There is no Away

 

We are putting together a creative team to make this interactive documentary which will be shown at IDocs. Your personal projects using Oscrap can be part of this documentary and you can be involved in producing the documentary in many ways.

IDocs 2016

We will follow stuff from the store to how it gets used. Stuff from Orinoco gets used in many many ways and the documentary will allow people to explore those ways.

• Upcycling
• Art
• Architecture
• DIY
• Painting and Decorating
• Building
• Eco houses
• Kid's Art
• Adult's Art
• Play
• Repair
• Gardening

We are rapidly turning much of the World's incredible natural wealth into landfill. There is no Away
will be an interactive documentary exploring the life of the stuff and the people who pass through
Orinoco, the Oxfordshire Scrapstore. Orinoco is one of a number of eclectic ‘scrap stores’ emerging
around the world in response to our throwaway society. It aims to bring about social change by
creatively expanding our understanding of our relationship to the planet's resources, challenging
the ideology underlying our high-waste cultures. This IDoc looks at ways we can open people’s
minds to different ways of living, rethinking both what we do with the sea of waste we are
swimming in, and the kinds of practices of design, materials used and so forth we are prepared to
‘commission’ as consumers.

The Scrapstore provides a unique chance to show creative ways of using stuff. The iDoc is being
trialed as a way of enabling Scrapstore users to share stories rethinking how we use stuff. The
presentation will give examples of how collaboratively produced media does this. The documentary
shows the wonderful variety of ways things can be reused or re-purposed. It offers a range of paths
into the Scrapstore and the minds of the people who use it. Mundane things like leftover paint,
fabric, plastic off-cuts, cardboard and other domestic and industrial cast offs become birds, polar
bears or crocodiles; renewed spaces, new seating and tables; sculptures, models of buildings;
cloches, drums, or a simple home repair; alternatives to the path from over consumption to landfill.
This documentary is co-produced by Chris Bonfiglioli and the Scrapstore users with almost no
budget, using the array of digital tools accessible to most people. Creating iDocs becomes a part of
the everyday practice of Orinoco. When users buy materials for their projects they are offered the
chance to participate by sending in photos or a video clip of how they have transformed the scrap.
The output of the project will be a multi path web interface. This will be both online and on an
interactive in-store screen. Content will be accessible by store section, user interest, material, uses
and innovation. Users will explore videos, photos and audio in each of these areas, as well as
make and add their own content. This will record and share the creativity of the Scrapstore as a
social and creative hub.

Introduction to the Hierarchy of Things.

The Hierarchy of Things

The Hierarchy of Things is a concept which I think should encompass the sensible manufacture, use, design, and reuse of things and the materials involved in their manufacture and which they become. It relates to many concepts such as Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, waste recycling, upcycling, repurposing, creative reuse, industrial design and the worrying inkjet printer use model. The current idea of recycling does not go nearly far enough towards promoting a sensible, sustainable relationship with World's resources.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/designing-for-a-hierarchy-of-needs/ 

The virtuous form of the basic hierarchy is something like this:

Design Things to Last
Reuse Things

Re-purpose Things

Reuse Component Materials

Recycle Component Materials 

The vicious form of the basic hierarchy is this:

Design Things to Break
Design Things to Need Inputs

Don't Worry About Waste

Externalise Disposal Costs

Each step down the hierarchy requires creativity, effort and energy to reduce waste.

The Inkjet Printer - are they cheap?  The cheapest Inkjet Printer on Amazon today is £15.52!  But there is a catch they are not selling printers, they are selling ink. Lots of working printers are scrapped, they are treated as disposable. I consider the Inkjet printer conceived in this way to be an insult to myself and to the planet. Having deliberately failed to design them to last they now expect us to spend money supporting our printer's expensive ink habit. My Laser printer is more than 20 years old and shows no signs of failing. 

Copyright 2015 Chris Bonfiglioli.