Local 411: Private Conversations In Public Space

position turns up tempo, becomes less reflective. A new picture of Internet traffic has been overlaid on the earlier one. On a whim, a new drum pattern is added to the composition, replacing the drone. This pattern's tempo, length and feel are completely different from the reggae pattern. The result is very jarring. A click of the "Silence" button removes the reggae pattern. The sec­ ond drum pattern is selected for all four frames. It sounds like six sloppy drummers playing in perfect time and paying no attention to each other. An entirely new picture of Internet traffic is created, and the composition takes a new direction. Mechanics Web Phases consists of a number of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) "loops" of varying length, tempo and content, and a web page divided into five frames: one control frame and four target frames. I chose to use MIDI be­ cause it is a very compact data type and can be downloaded very quickly, even over slow connections. The user selects a MIDI loop and sends it to a specific window, where it automatically plays, once it completes downloading. When a user selects another loop and window, it plays concurrenüy with the other loop or loops, generating a continuously changing composition due to the "phas­ ing" of the loops. The nature of the phasing comes not only from the differ­ ent lengths and tempi, but also from the data traffic on the Internet and the speed of the user's connection. If Internet traffic is heavy and the down­ loading time is slow, the start time of the various loops will be affected. In es­ sence, the composition generated con­ tains a "picture" of the current state of the user's connection to the Internet. Concept Web Phases (http://www.artswire.org/ -jmax/phaseframe.html) is an interac­ tive piece of music that I created for two reasons. First, I wanted to explore my ambivalence toward most "interac­ tive" music on the Web. Most of these pieces are neither truly interactive nor specific to the Web. The second reason was to work toward the creation of a musical equivalent of hypertext. I find that most interactive music works only give the illusion of user par­ ticipation and freedom; the hand of the artist very tightly controls the users. No matter what choices are made, the result is what the artist/creator wants it to be. There are very few works that allow the option of mediocrity. Interactive fiction and some role-playing games are notable exceptions. iVfyii [1] allows the option of aimless wandering. In both Bad Day on the Midway [2] by the Residents and the text adventure version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [3], if the user takes too much time to accomplish certain tasks, the possibility of winning the game is removed and the user will wander through the game forever, interacting with the other characters, exploring the environment, neither dying nor making any progress toward the conclusion. I wanted to create a piece that would allow a user a satisfying experience with a minimal amount of participation, yet allow a deeper involvement if desired. I viewed the concept of "satisfaction" as involving, in part, a feeling of accom­ plishment. Therefore, it was necessary to allow the user to generate a composi­ tion that might sound unpleasant. Without that, there could never be the sense of accomplishment that ac­ companies the generation of a "pleas­ ant" composition. Words can take on many layers of meaning in hypertext. A word that is used as a hypertext link contains, in a sense, the information to which it points. That new information is colored by the word that has led to it. In a document with many links, each reader experiences these layers in a personal way, based on their choices. Web Phases attempts to do the same with music. The nature of each loop se­ lected is colored by the ones that come before and after. Sound in the real world is a rich source of information. Why should cyberspace be silent? References and Notes 1. Myst is an interactive CD-ROM that has become the best...