Monday 10th May, 2004
*documentation*
original information
|
|
|
|
people at the workshop |
demonstrating the testing software |
'lunchbox' computer |
|
|
|
| Alexei and Magnus |
testing an antenna |
antenna and parts |
[click on image for an enlarged version]
The workshop was presented by Ilze Black, She Lea Cheang and Alexei Blinov from TAKE2030. The public participants included a range of people artists, indy media activists, Linux people and the curious. Most people had had little or no prior experience of wireless networks although a couple of participants were involved in setting up community wireless nodes in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The workshop was originally limited to 12 people but a few additional people came and went during the course of the afternoon.
During the first half of the workshop, Ilze and Shu Lea did a talk introducing the history of the "freenetwork" movement in Europe and the UK, focusing on the communities in London and Berlin. they then went on to explain the ideas behind the RICHAIR2030 project and what had happened during their performance for MACHINISTA. They showed one of the "lunchbox" computers used suring the prformance. These were small scale systems that ran of camera batteries and were fitted with wireless antennae and small digital cameras. The lunchboxes were carried by rollergirls who skated around Glasgow. Software on the computers continually monitored the strength of wireless signals as the girls moved. When the signals were strong enough the cameras took photos and streamed these over the wireless link to the RICHAIR website. On the website a real-time diagram showed the varying strengths of wireless signals as the girls moved around along with the incoming images.
In the second half of the workshop Alexei explained the technology which enabled wireless networks and how simple some of this could be to build. He then went on to show the participants how to build their own antenna using the precut metal parts and some basic electrical connector components. Everyone made their own antenna. Alexei tested these to make sure that every one worked. Some were capable of producing quite strong signals. The participants all took away their antenna to set up their own wireless nodes.
Plans for antenna: download
RICHAIR2030 website:
http://richair.waag.org
Wireless networks in Scotland:
http://www.glasgownet.com - Glasgow
http://www.backnet.org.uk - Edinburgh
