1) System Diagrams

Due date: Wednesday January 17 before class.

We'll be looking at many examples of performance and installation projects which use data of many types for input and control. Processing and logic occur, and output of varying types is generated.

The primary goals of this initial assignment are to get you looking at, and thinking about, data flow possibilities, and also to give you some experience with system representation, planning, and analysis.

For this assignment you are to generate diagrams which cleanly provide visual descriptions of the flow of data and control for novel performance/installation systems.

Students taking the graduate/7101 class should create two system diagrams.

Students taking the undergrad/4101 class only need to create one system diagram.

For each system, you should produce a high-level system diagram using the approach described in class. The systems you're describing will determine what combination of hardware, software, and state information you are representing.

These do not need to be systems that you would have the resources or knowledge to build, but they shouldn't be impossible, require omnipotence, immortality, anti-gravity, etc. Don't worry if you don't know exact techical details. Boxes can contain descriptive terms (e.g. "wireless signal").

For this exploration, please do not create diagrams of:

• a VJ/theatre/dance/music system in which motion sensors, sound, and video drive one another
• a simple two part system with one unique data source simply remapped to a single unique output medium
• a string of connected boxes with each describing a sequence of activities. (e.g., first you pass through a door, then you push a button, then you see a light, then a sound file plays...)
  
• a wacky nonsensical Rube Goldberg machine

Grading will be based on the complexity, creativity, and consideration of your choice of proposed input and output data, remapping, and control, as well as the clarity with which your diagrams communicate the data paths, types, and transformations. Document your process as you go (research, references, revisions, roads-not-followed, etc).

You might find sites like Lucidchart, bubbl.us or gliffy useful, or my favorite software for diagrams OmniGraffle. Of course you can use photoshop, illustrator, or a pencil and scanner.

Hand your work using the methods described on the main homework assignments page.

A short list of things you might consider for your diagram:

• Is it clear what category each visual element belongs to? Hardware? Action? Decision?
• Is it clear what direction each connection goes?
• Is it clear what sort of data is traveling through a data flow connection? Images? Sound?
• Is there text explaining anything not clear in the diagram? Use only as much text as is needed.
• Is there anything that's really very complicated and should be broken down into parts?
• Where is each noun (computer, person, device, building) positioned spatially in the diagram?
• Are things that are connected in the real world also connected in the diagram?
• How is time represented in the diagram?
• How are the people interacting with the system represented in the diagram?
• Do you have a spaghetti-like mess of overlapping connections that could be cleaned up?
• What are you doing to choreograph the eye around and through your diagram?