Social Protocols for a Telepresence Picnic

When arriving at a picnic location lay out and connect the items in the following order. Not everything needs to be up and running before the two picnics connect. Try to say hello as quickly as possible.

Connect the laptop to the camera and the monitor to the computer using the s-video to composite video adaptor.

Connect either the speakers or the wireless headphones transmitter (if in a noisy location) to the sound out of the computer

Start a video conference using iChat and say hello.

Once the audio/video channel is up and running connect all the sensor and motor interface boards using the midi cables and then connect the midi interface to the computer. You should already have the clocks and some of the kinetic objects (s.a. the fork purse and straw bowl) connected to the interfaces). To prevent gouging of eyes by forks, fix the fork purse to the plastic cutting board before plugging in the power. Attach the straws to the motors within the straw bowl.

Now two objects are ready to go

Start up the OSC/KW gateway (used by Max to send messages over the net). Open up the Terminal application. Type these two commands.

cd Desktop
java -jar osckwgw.jar config.xml

The gateway should start and log into xavier.waag.org.

Say hello within the Terminal using the chat environment.

Power up the interface boards and start up the lf:tk max patch.
Check to see that the midi setup is correct.
On both the Input and Output sides, uncheck all devices except the two midi interface ports (probably called "2x2 Port A", and "2x2 Port B"). Set the "Abbrev" to "a" for Port A, and "b" for Port B. Set the "Offset" to 0 for Port A, and 16 for Port B. Set the "Abbrev" to "-" for all other ports. Close the window, quit Max, and then start the patch again. Make sure the port is set to "2x2 Port A" within the patch.

Coordinate who is going to be osc-slave and who is going to be osc-master

Click to use osc-keyworx server gateway.
Have the master start the clock and check that the slave is receiving it. Once confirmed that both patches are connected to each other via the server then get both the fork purse and the straw bowl ready. They should already be connected to the boards.
Have one of the picnickers move the fork purse live and wait for a response from the straw bowl.

Now one by one attach the rest of the objects.

Have a final test that each object is working.
Each picnicker moves their object, one at a time. Make sure each picnicker knows which object they are controlling and if they are connected to the boards properly.

Try starting a song through the max patch and do a little dance together.

Continue with the picnic
Have fun.



Networks are very often chaotic things. Sometimes people don't answer immediately as there is a lot of sensory input to contend with and they sometimes need some time to respond.
Always maintain a polite conversational tone and try to be patient.



The setup typically takes about one hour. Again, patience is necessary in the journey to make a connection. Don't forget that picnics are meant to be enjoyed locally as well as translocally.

Have patience and some fun with the process.