Umbrella.net

Umbrella.net is a project with 10 Bluetooth and PDA-equipped umbrellas which make up a mobile network. Artists Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki develop a transient network, (an Ad hoc Mesh network) both technological and social. They embed wireless devices in umbrellas--a daily object which fluctuates weather conditions. As a result, the network only appears with the "coincidence of need" that occurs with the first drop of rain.

Technology
This project utilizes the DAWN (Dublin Ad-Hoc Wireless Network) network, a Mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) developed at the NTRG, Trinity College Dublin. The UMBRELLA.net system consists of a hardware and software component integrated into a typical umbrella. It features white umbrellas with hand-held computers attached to their shafts, that is, there are Bluetooth-equipped umbrellas each with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that runs the networking software. The PDA interfaces both to the umbrella hardware and the other umbrellas within range utilizing DAWN network infrastructure.

The PDA software only communicates with others when specific conditions are met i.e., when the umbrellas are open and other nodes exist in close proximity. Sensor in the umbrella detects the state of open or close, and transmits this state via Bluetooth to the PDA. When umbrellas are opened, the hardware on the umbrellas communicates to the PDAs to initiate a network connection, and the software can engage with the network. Once engaged, the state of the current connection is made visible on the umbrella. The umbrellas illuminate their states with bright LEDs. These LEDs are based on three critiria:

1.) when searching for a node the umbrella would flash red,

2.) when a node is found it turns solid blue,

3.) when data is sent between umbrellas, it pulses blue.

Through the illumination, these visual cues would allow people around the site to engage with the project. And those holding the umbrellas would be able to use the built-in chat program on the PDAs to communicate with other participants.

Criticism and controversy

The interactive and spontaneous nature of UMBRELLA.net is reminiscent of the Happenings of the 1960s and 70s, such as those conducted by Allan Kaprow, in which common materials and audience participation blurred the boundaries of art and everyday life.

There are many forms of ad hoc gatherings based on spontaneous communications, but how could networks begin to look as they become even more integrated into the feedback loop of daily life? In Umbrella.Net Artists Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki have envisioned a project that asks such a question. They use wireless computing to create spontaneous and temporary networks among people based on shared contexts and experiences - in this case, proximity and weather.

This work has developed a prototype system of Bluetooth umbrellas that facilitate "sudden, striking, and unexpected connections between people in public and urban space" by forming ad-hoc mesh networks when unfurled.

Unfortunately, since there's not a whole lot to do when creating Ad hoc networks that aren't connected to the internet, the primary application of the short range networking system is chat. Short-range, wireless chat. Now if only we could evolve vibrating, fleshy cords in our throats and a set of communicative phonemes, maybe we could run the chat system entirely with bio-generated power over a sonic carrier.

Data visualization

The illumination of umbrellas creates a visual evidence of the network in physical space and a clear visualization of its activity. The visualization of the network also shows each person where they are in relation to others in the network and "illustrates the multi-hop routing structure of the project." However, UMBRELLA.net is an unusual example of data visualization. Unlike its "screen-based precedents", UMBRELLA.net happens in public space, decorating the cityscape with pulses of color that "create an allegory for data in a real-time system", making network visible, and "rendering prosaic technology poetic."

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