There are three Tilty Tables placed across the
front of the gallery. Each Tilty Table is a three-by-three-foot-wide
white square resting on a metal podium. The table is attached in such
a way as to allow it to be tilted in all directions. Projected
on to the white surface of each table is a high-resolution image, so
that it appears as if the table is itself a glowing screen. When visitors
tilt the table the images on its surface change in direct response.
How does it work? The tables sit on pneumatic shock absorbers,
much like the ones used in cars to smooth out the ride. Also under
each table is a digital device called "an accelerometer" which measures
how quickly something is getting faster or slower. (Acceleration means rate of change. For example, a car going from
0 to 60 is accelerating. A car moving at a steady 60 miles per hour
is not accelerating at all.) As it turns out, an accelerometer can also
measure tilt, much the same way that the bubble in a carpenter's level
can measure tilt. This is because gravity is really acceleration (as
Newton discovered 400 years ago). The tilt information from the accelerometers
is sent to computers that use this information to determine the correct
image to send to the video projectors. These projectors are mounted
in the ceiling and are precisely aligned with the tables beneath them
so that the images fill the white surface of the tables.
Tilty Table #1: The Reading Table
What's it about? The Reading Table allows the visitor to move
through a large document that, if it were to be printed out, would be
over thirty feet on a side. The Reading Table is a small window onto
this large document such that when the table is tilted, the window slides
across the large document (or, another way to look at it, is that the
large document is sliding under the window). The result is that the
visitor feels as if he or she is surfing or gliding across the image.
The document itself contains hundreds of captioned cartoons exploring
many different ideas about "reading," "writing," "words" and "telling."
In fact, this colorful document is like a large laboratory notebook
(or perhaps a huge "napkin drawing") that the researchers made while
they were thinking about the Experiments in the Future of Reading show.
What is the experiment? RED is interested in exploring how
to read extremely large documents in new ways. This technique, for instance,
could also be used in reading blueprints or large maps. As in other
exhibits, RED is exploring how words and images work together to form
meaning. And lastly, The Reading Table examines how we use our bodies
when we read and how that might effect the meaning of the words. Standing
and tilting The Reading Table is different than sitting and turning
the pages of a book.
How does it work? The large image was drawn with a computer
drawing program called "Fractal Design Painter." The final image is
approximately 5000 by 5000 pixels in size. The computer "wraps" the
image so that if you go off the top of the image, you smoothly end up
at the bottom. Likewise if you scroll off the left, you find yourself
on the right, and vise versa. (A surface that works this way is called
a "torus" and looks like a doughnut if you could see it.)
Tilty Table #2: The Tall Tale Table
What's it about? The Tall Tale Table presents an infinite plane
(the visitor can go forever in any direction) of nonsense Tall Tales.
Each of these Tall Tales was constructed using a simple computer program
whose input was two real fairy tales from around the world. The names
of these fairy tales, and where they originate, is listed beneath each
Tall Tale. Most of the Tall Tales do not make much sense, but sometimes
they almost do! Nonetheless they are fun to read. The Tall Tale Table
presents in a physical way an idea from the Jorge Louis Borges' story "The Library" which was about a library with every possible book in it.
What is the experiment? RED wanted to explore how a pile of
words is transformed into a story. RED also was interested in exploring
what it feels like to be explore an infinite plane of stories that extends
forever in all directions. And lastly, this is also a preliminary investigation
into how we respond to computer-authored text.
How does it work? In English, as in all other languages, only
certain words follow other words. You might see: "The red dog" but you
will never see: "Dog red the." Given a story such as "Little Red Riding
Hood" one can make a chart of all the words that can follow other words
in that story. In many cases it is possible that more than one word
can follow a given word.
Once a word chart has been constructed, new stories can be created
combining words together that can follow other words. This is done by
picking a word to begin with and finding another word that grammatically
or semantically can follow after it. After the first pair of words are
combined, the combination process continues until a chain of new word
combinations is constructed to form a story of sorts. The scientific
name for this is a "Hidden Markov Chain."
Each of the constructed stories in The Tall Tale Table is derived
from two of seventy-two real folk tales from around the world. The two
stories have been added together when the computer constructed the "word
chart," thus the visitor can tell which words come from which story
by their color.
The computer generates the stories in real time as the visitor tilts
the table but in such a manner that if the visitor returns to the same
place on the plane they will see the same story.
Tilty Table #3: The Peace Table
What's it about? The Peace Table is a simple table with a virtual
ball rolling around on the top of it. The ball responds to the tilting
of the table and bounces off the sides of it. On the table are hotspots,
each one labeled with a different language. When the virtual ball rolls
over one of the hotspots the word for PEACE in that language appears
in the center of the table.
What is the experiment? The people of the world read and write
many different languages making it difficult to communicate. RED is
interested exploring how we might use reading to bring about Peace On
Earth.
How does it work? A computer program uses the information sent
to it by the accelerometer under the table to determine the motion of
the virtual ball. It is programmed in such a way as to perform similarly
to a real ball on a real tilted table. For instance, if the slope stays
the same the ball moves faster and faster (remember, gravity is acceleration).
The words for PEACE have all been written out using the a standard English
alphabet so that most visitors can read them. The hardest part was determining
which of the thousands of words for PEACE in the world to put on the
table.
