“Hawaiian” Pineapple

An unlikely history of the pineapple is constructed through a synthesis of plantation laborer and Hawaiian histories in recent videos by Jen Goya.

+A Log of the Overthrow will broadcast on Olelo Community Television on December 21, 2010.
+Pineapple Worker includes audio recording courtesy of University of Hawaii Center for Oral History.
+The Pineapple is Not Native to Hawaii is a limited version DVD.

Pineapple Worker

One of three videos in part of series of work that examines the pineapple’s connection to Hawaii. Venicia Guiala worked for Dole Plantation for over 25 years. She explains how she prepared for work in the hot sun and heavy dust, while a pineapple plantation worker is caught in an awkward struggle.

Audio recording courtesy of University of Hawaii Center for Oral History.

A Log of the Overthrow

One of three videos in part of series of work that examines the pineapple’s connection to Hawaii. This piece acknowledges the wrongful overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom and how the pineapple is linked to that history. This is an excerpt of a 28 minute television program for public access television.

The full program will broadcast on Olelo Community Television on the 51st anniversary of Hawaii’s official statehood, December 21.

Outside my window right this second.

Just a tree.

More Duke promotion.

Have a good day y’all!

Note:  So these next few postings were for a class and created these blog entries to present my idea for a cool interactive TV game show.

A new game show following the popular Atari Pong format takes interactive and public access television to a new level.

It is said that first form of interactive television was from the invention of the remote control. Over 50 years ago, the wire-bound and wireless television remote controls were designed to use ultrasound and other electromagnetic technology to adjust the volume and change channels on a television monitor.  Robert Adler, known inventor the wireless ultrasonic TV remote, that reigned for 25 years (1960-1985).  Today, infrared technology is utilized for modern TV controllers and is still seen as one way to interact with there TV.  Video on-demand (view movies and other TV programming from home), television commerce also known as “T-commerce (e.g. Home Shopping Network’s Shop By Remote service), interactive TV game shows that rely on network devices (e.g. PDAs and cell phones) for game play, and the rise of digital video recorders (DVR) have diversified the definition of interactive television.

Ping Pong TV is a new television program that provides viewers the opportunity to participate in redefining interactive TV.  This TV show uses the popular Atari arcade/video game Pong as the framework for each 30-minute episode that airs on local public access television stations.  The show utilizes the familiarity of ping-pong to attract viewers to investigate the new use of a well-known game interface.  Viewers are invited to play with the show’s interface that creates stereograms, optical illusions created formed from two-dimensional imagery, which they can also watch the stereoscopic images produced by other players who record their game play and upload them to a companion website for use in future Ping Pong TV episodes.

Unfortunately, it seems that most of the existing modes of TV interactivity listed before (e.g. video on-demand, “T-commerce,” interactive TV game shows, DVRs, etc.) are only enabled at a cost to the viewer.  Ping Pong TV is a non-commercial television program that will be broadcasted on local public access television stations.  The motivation behind this interactive TV show is intended to invite the common TV viewer to partake in a public art TV installation from the comfort of his or her own home.  The use of Atari’s Pong is intended to create a game play atmosphere, but there is no option of winning this game of ping-pong because the show’s purpose is to utilize a TV monitor as a user interface to make TV art.  Viewers are invited to make game controllers and stereoscopic glasses using ordinary household items such as a universal remote control or an AM/FM analog radio.  This element promotes the DIY (do-it-yourself) – arts and crafts movement, while encouraging viewers to take an active role in making technology that can be apart of interactive TV history and programming.

Ping Pong TV Website

Viewers are also welcomed to share their inventions via Ping Pong TV’s website (www.pingpong.tv), an online community for the show’s fans.  This website allows viewers to upload digital video recordings of their game play, since individual games are not broadcasted live and only take place in the viewers home.  The website provides additional information about the show for viewers who are interested in exploring the framework for the show.  It serves as an online documentation of the DIY game controllers and stereoscopic glasses made for the show.  The website will house a collection of digital video recordings of user-submitted game play that are used for other episodes of Ping Pong TV.

Though you can’t win a game of ping pong on Ping Pong TV, you can be apart of the resurrection of Pong’s Cowboy wife Doreen.

One of the website’s features allows the user to upload a profile picture, which is then converted into an ASCII rendering, which ultimately becomes one of the backdrops for the show.  These unique profile images are assigned a Doreen ID number, so a viewer maybe able to search for a particular sequence from a previous episode online or identify their own game play that maybe used for an episode.  The Doreen ID number is taken from an unseen character of the first Atari Pong television commercial made in 1973 where a cowboy asks for his wife named Doreen to come home after she supposedly left the house to play the coin-operated arcade game Pong and never returned home.  This minor detail is intended to pay tribute to the history of Pong, which Ping Pong TV is ultimately derived from.  It also provides viewers the opportunity to identify with a character in the game, Doreen.