[{"content":"Democratizing BCIs to foster curiosity, experimentation and speculation. Thesis Project in collaboration with NIMHANS\nContext Buddhi-GV was a 4 month long thesis project done in collobarotion with NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Helath and Neurosciences) and its upcoming Brain and Mind museum. Buddhi GV aims to use curisoity, experimentation and speculation to democratise access and understanding of Brain Computer Interfaces.\nOpen access reopsitory Repo link: https://www.buddhigv.netlify.app\nThe first outcome of the project is an open access repository which contains information, experiments and documentation of exisiting Brain computer interfaces. The website has 3 sections\nCurisoity Documenting information and resources around brain computer interfaces. What is BCI? What are the types? How are they being used in medicine, gaming, art performance etc\nExperimentation Documentation of software and procedures to perform simple experiments with open source hardware and software. For example, How can we record EEG waves from the brain\u0026rsquo;s visual cortex and see the differences between eyes open and eyes closed states.\nRecording EEG waves from the visual cortex\nRecording EEG waves from the pre frontal cortex\nAlpha waves between 8 to 12hz recorded when eyes are closed and participant is focused\nSpeculation This section houses short stories of fiction written with the character of Buddhu GV.\nOpen Access and contribution The entire respository is available on Github. Anybody can contribute to any section of the repository. The experiments are also documented and made public for anybody to try out with their own setup.\nAnyone can contribute resources, experiments, fiction to the repo\nBuddhiGV Repo link: https://github.com/abhiramjois/buddhigv Experiments Repo link: https://github.com/abhiramjois/experiments-with-bci Speculative Design and Fiction writing The character and world of BuddhiGV Buddhi GV explores a speculative world with a character called BuddhiGV to understand human-brain relationship. It explores the relationship humans have with brain computer interfaces and thereby their brains. The fiction is set in an alternative futuristic reality where advanced creations called Buddhi GVs exist. Buddhi GVs are the forefront of what artificial intelligence and brain computer interfaces could achieve. Buddhi GV or a Jeevi is a personification of a person’s brain, mind and its activity. Fiction is used as tool to understand, speculate and ponder over ethics, politics, philosophies, relationship and social impacts of Brain computer Interfaces.\nA kiosk at the brain and mind museum The project embodies itself as a kiosk placed in the upcoming brain and mind museum of NIMHANS. A user can wear an EEG headset and interact the kiosk to play games. Users can also engage with the repository to obtain quick access to information and experiments. The kiosk also houses small booklets of BuddhiGV stories that can pick up to enjoy a quick read.\nDesigning visuals and collaterals Building the Kiosk machine ","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/buddhigv/","summary":"Democratizing BCIs to foster curiosity, experimentation and speculation. Thesis Project in collaboration with NIMHANS\nContext Buddhi-GV was a 4 month long thesis project done in collobarotion with NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Helath and Neurosciences) and its upcoming Brain and Mind museum. Buddhi GV aims to use curisoity, experimentation and speculation to democratise access and understanding of Brain Computer Interfaces.\nOpen access reopsitory Repo link: https://www.buddhigv.netlify.app\nThe first outcome of the project is an open access repository which contains information, experiments and documentation of exisiting Brain computer interfaces.","title":"BuddhiGV - Collaboration with NIMHANS"},{"content":"It was a warm summer evening in Samnagar. Pragathi sat with Gubbu in the backseat of her car, there was a lot of silence from her side and some talking from her Amma and Appa in the front. She was sitting quietly and unmoved whereas Gubbu was busy drawing imaginary shapes on the window of the car. He first drew a wave, then drew three circles and found an intricate pattern to connect all the elements. It was not really a recognisable scene or form but it evoked in him the feeling he was strongly feeling at that point. He did not exactly know how to describe it so imaginary squiggly lines on a car window was the best he could to capture and communicate. He was somehow both relieved and impressed with the image on the screen, mind you he was the only one who could see it. But he tapped on Pragathi’s shoulder furiously to show her the drawing and explain it to her. She however did not want to see what he had to show. They were returning from a parent teacher meeting at Pragathi’s school. The teacher had told them that Pragathi is a very smart and bright student, but she needs to figure out how to work better with Gubbu. When he called her to show his creation, she snapped and said angrily but without making too much noise “Gubbu, get back here, you stupid Jeevi. Always do your own thing and I am the one getting yelled at” Jeevi was a general term that was used to refer to creations like Gubbu.\nGubbu was a Buddhi GV, Buddhi GVs were the forefront of what artificial intelligence and brain computer interfaces could achieve. They were not machines or devices per say, when artificial intelligence reached its peaks and computers were capable of feeling things stronger, they collectively felt that the word machine or device was often derogatory and it belittles the relationship a human has with technology by making it very task oriented. The collective new word that was used for any new technological advancements was ‘creations’, This also made sense as creations became more and more human-like and therefore it felt wrong to refer to them with inanimate terms. Buddhi GVs were created by a company called Neurolink, the company rose after the famous Neuralink got into trouble with creation ethics and human responsibilities towards them. Buddhi GVs are what the company stated as “Human brain personification”.\nA human can be configured and paired to their Jeev as early as the second day of their birth, the earlier the configuration is done the better the performance of the Jeevi is, as it grows with its human. The configuration involved transplanting a chip into a human’s brain that actively sends data of electrical activity in the brain. A Jeevi is a personification of a person’s brain, mind and its activity. When a Jeevi and their human were together in the same physical space they would be in sync and the Jeevi would get real time data from the human’s brain, it was often reflective of the human’s state of mind. When the Jeevi and the human were in different spaces, the GVs would operate on a model with pre trained data. Jeevis came in different shapes and sizes. A lot of humans had a Jeevi with them. This was a world with very little income inequality and hence society could afford tech like the Jeevis as a necessity. Apart from the companionship, there were also very real benefits to having a Jeevi.\nFor children it became very easy for educators to educate, it was easier to identify neurodivergence and a child’s learning patterns as the Jeevis were a clear indicator of a child’s development. Relationships between humans got more nuanced and interesting, as a society everyone was still figuring out the social etiquettes for Jeevis in relationships. But that is the case with any new technology. It took humans many years to come to common grounds on how phones and social media should influence relationships. This technology, since more advanced, had a longer curve to embark on. Jeevis were mandatory in workplaces, they were indicators of employee engagement and performance. It was easier to diagnose brain conditions in humans through the Jeevis. It was easier to detect tumors, epilepsy, irregular activity in brain function etc. Not everyone had a Jeevi with them at all times of course some people never felt the need to pair with one and a few others found it hard to see a personification of their state of mind as it could get too real and too intimidating to experience at once. This was particularly observed in people who paired with Jeevis at later ages in life. If a person paired with a Jeevi beyond the age of 18, it was mandatory for them to take a habilitation course which involved exercises and therapy sessions with the Jeevi.\nPragathi was paired with Gubbu when she was five. He was named after Gowramma, Pragathi’s grandmother who she lovingly called Gubbu Ajji. Ajji had passed away a few months before Gubbu came, Pragathi was very close to her Ajji and her parents thought a Jeevi would help Pragathi with companionship. Gubbu was a fairly tall being around 5 ft 10 inches. He was deep ocean blue in colour and had rubber like skin. His hair was made of yellow wires and he mostly wore tank tops and shorts. That is what Pragathi usually made sure he wore. It is not mandatory for Jeevis to wear clothes in public but some people insisted on it. A comparison could be drawn to people who brought t- shirts for their dogs. Pragathi was 14 years old now and she had a very sibling-like relationship with Gubbu.\nWhen Pragathi yelled at Gubbu, he made an annoyed face and readjusted his position away from the window and closer to the center, next to her. He could hear what Amma was telling the both of them “You need to pay more attention in class and take better notes, half of your sheets are filled with meaningless scribbles and drawings in the corner of the pages” “I did not do those, it\u0026rsquo;s all this Gubbu only. He gets bored in class and starts scribbling everywhere” said Pragathi in defense. “Amma, she is blaming everything unnecessarily on me, yesterday I was trying to do Algebra problems with her and she was the one who kept pointing at the bald spot on Shyam sir’s head and laughing” Gubbu said, feeling let down. “Oh how about the time that day when ma’am was scolding me in class, you were the one constantly singing that annoying jingle from the cornflakes ad. You always do this. Whenever something is serious and needs us to be there, you start with your own goofy shit and-”. “Mind your language, Pragathi” Amma interrupted before Pragathi could complete. “And stop fighting each other, you both should be working as a team and helping each other out. Blaming each other will get you nowhere. You need to figure out how to work as a team”. Pragathi and Gubbu shared glances of disapproval with each other, which almost immediately turned into an argument and later into them fighting with each other. At this point amma had had enough and yelled at them to stop. At once both of them stopped and the car sank back into silence.\nIt was that way for a while and Appa broke the silence by saying “Maybe we should take them to the place that your friend was suggesting.” He did not really care much about their studies, he let his wife always take the role of the bad cop and she was the one who had difficult conversations with the children. I mean their child and her technologically created sibling. “The place is very close from here and we can call to book a session with one of their instructors”. “Sounds like a good idea, these two will definitely be benefited with some sessions. Maybe they will even learn how to work with each other”. Pragathi heard the conversation between her parents and asked them where they were going. “Ritu aunty was telling me about this place where they teach children your age how to bond and work better with their GVs. It is a modern recreation of ancient meditation techniques, but readapted to help humans better understand and work with their Jeevis. We thought we should get the two of you a session” Pragathi and Gubbu looked at each other, this time they were on the same team as they did not want to go to whatever this place was. It sounded boring and like yet another evening class that their parents wanted to push them to. Gubbu wore a pleading tone and said “Amma, we will perform better by the next PTM. We don’t need any sessions, we are fine”. Pragathi added to that by saying “Yes amma, I know this time you heard some complaints but see the difference by the time you come next time. We will be better than Krishna and Phillip also.”Their requests seemed to make no difference to Amma’s decision. “Nothing doing,” she said. “Ritu aunty was telling me about how it helped Samyam and Monish. I am sure it will be useful for both of you also”.\nShe then told the voice assistant in the car to book a session at Kapoors Mental Coordination Cafe (KMCC). The car replied asking for a time slot and then gave a confirmation of booking for a session one hour away. KMCC was a training center among many of its kind. They helped people build a better relationship with their mind, this was an age old phenomenon that taught meditation, mindfulness, body mind coordination etc. These organizations had transformed into training centers that helped a human improve their relationship with their Jeevi. Since there was one more hour left to the session, Appa thought that it would be an empathetic decision to get ice cream before the session.\nThe family drove to the nearest ice cream outlet and Appa, Amma and Pragathi all got ice creams. Appa and Amma were at one table and Pragathi and Gubbi were at another. Appa and Amma also had their Jeevis, but both of them were at home. Pragathi was eating her ice cream and Gubbu sat in front of her looking at her silently. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked. “Is something wrong with us?” he wondered. “Everyone is always talking about how you and I can not work well together. I mean it is not like we can’t do anything, right? Just these monotonous school tasks are boring. Ma’am today should have been more clear about what she told Amma, now Amma thinks that we can’t do anything at all and wants to take us to these stupid classes. Like I have not been with you all my life and now some instructor needs to tell me how to ‘work better’ with you. Ugh these adults are so annoying sometimes. It is just that-”. Pragathi cut Gubbu off by telling “Oh my god, Ayansh messaged me and asked if I could spend time with Roxy after school tomorrow. He wants to meet the guys apparently”. Ayansh was Pragathi’s classmate and Roxy was his Jeevi. She had a small crush on Roxy. She never really enjoyed spending time with Ayansh and Roxy together, but whenever Ayansh would leave Roxy and go hangout with the guys, she would spend time with Roxy and she liked that (It is common practice for guys to hangout without their Jeevis, it was consensus that Jeevis came in the way of their boy activities). Gubbu was not pleased with her excitement “I think you should stop hanging out with them, especially since that Ayansh is such an asshole and Roxy feels like a different person altogether when around him” he said. Pragathi knew what Gubbu was telling was right but she wanted to spend as much time with Roxy as possible before Ayansh turned him fully into the guy that he was on the path of becoming. “I know we will spend time with him tomorrow and then start to reduce,” she said. “That’s what you said last time” complained Gubbu. But before this conversation could continue, Appa came and said that they had to leave.\nThe drive to KMCC was around 20 minutes. In the car, Pragathi kept smiling thinking about meeting Roxy the next day and since Gubbu knew why she was smiling, he kept giving her judgy looks. Sometime later Appa drove the car inside a compound with huge metal gates, there was a parking lot inside and he parked in one of the empty spaces. Everyone got out of the car and started walking towards the nearby building. When they reached the building, they were welcomed by a woman called Shreya who was expecting them. The training center was a huge place with a lot of greenery and semi outdoor spaces. Shreya spoke to Appa and Amma first, they were discussing something that neither Pragathi nor Gubbu paid attention to. Gubbu and Pragathi were running around in the open green space, since Gubbu is considerably bigger than Pragathi, he was carrying her on his back after she got tired of running so that both of them could continue for a few more laps. They were looking at the trees there, petting a brown indie dog, until the dog got included in this little game of theirs.\nThere was more running that took place until they heard Appa calling for them. Panting, they ran back to the building and Pragathi stopped to catch a breath as soon as she reached there. Shreya spoke “Hi Pragathi, Hi Gubbu. I am Shreya and I am going to be your instructor for the day. Would you like some water Pragathi?”. “No thanks, I want to sit down for a while. Can we start in 2 minutes?” “Of course” said Shreya “Let me brief you on what today’s session is going to be like. Before that let me ask you a question, she turned to Gubbu and asked “Gubbu what do you do when she is asleep?”. Gubbu hesitated for a while and then answered, “I mostly dance when she is asleep. I read her bedtime stories, until she falls asleep and once she is in deep sleep I dance to pass my time away. But then of course, she wakes up at different times in the middle of the night and I tell her stories again. These stories are very spontaneous, I make them up on the spot and it includes themes from the day or just random events that she secretly hopes or does not hope for. But I mostly cannot remember what story I was telling her the next day.”\nHe had barely finished talking when Pragathi exclaimed, “You dance? Everyday? When I am asleep?” She felt the need to complain to Shreya. “I have seen him dance maybe once all my life. I think we had come home after a badminton game and I was super tired. I took a shower and came back and there he was, dancing. He even called me to dance, it was fun.” “I cannot dance when you are awake, we always have something or the other to do and I only dance when you are asleep. That is just how it is, I cannot dance otherwise”. At this point Pragathi looked confused and weirdly somewhat guilty as well. She was the reason Gubbu was not dancing, she is the reason he is unable to dance. Shreya looked to Pragathi and said “I hope you got enough of a break because we are going dancing”. Pragathi looked excited and Gubbu anxious, he did not know if he would be able to dance at once like that, dancing was how he rejuvenated himself and it was when she was not with him.\nShreya led the way to one of the green spaces and Pragathi ran excitedly behind her, Gubbu followed the two of them at a slower pace. When they reached the place, Shreya arranged for a speaker and started to play slow jazz music. She told Pragthi “I know that you are excited and want to see Gubbu dance, but you have to understand that it is also difficult for him. You need to create space for him which means you will have to relax. Sit under that tree, close your eyes and listen to the music. Try not to worry and minimize distractions. If Gubbu dances today and we do it regularly enough, you and Gubbu will be able to dance together everyday just like you did that day”. At this point she could clearly see that she was being tricked into meditating, but the idea of dancing with Gubbu was enough motivation to sit through it. Shreya then went to Gubbu and said “Gubbu I understand that you can dance only when she is asleep but you need to remember how fresh and rejuvenated you feel after you have danced.” “But- It’s not that direct, it\u0026rsquo;s more-” Gubbu protested. She was cut off by Shreya who smiled and said “Just let go and give it your best”.\nPragathi sat near a tree with her eyes closed, at first she did not know what to do she would keep looking at Gubbu hoping that he was dancing. Gubbu found it very hard to dance. He was distracted or conscious, but whatever it was he was unable to move his body. He sat down, plucked the grass, tried to talk to Pragathi, he also ran all over the place for quite some time, he shifted between sprinting, walking ,sitting down and playing with the grass. This went on for the first 5 minutes. After the first 5 minutes, he started to feel the need to move his body. At this point Pragathi was settled and was trying her best to keep her eyes closed and focus on her breaths. Gubbu, who was sitting down, stood up and started doing jumping jacks in the same place. This was definitely some progress from the last few minutes as he was in one place and his body was starting to feel the need to move.\nHe raised both hands together above his head and also got them down together. Slowly he began to try a more larger field of motion with his hands, he took turns moving them and reduced the jumping. He was only moving his hands now, they were slow and almost aligned with the pace of the song. He gradually started moving his feet according to the song. And it was, one might almost say that he was dancing. He took graceful leaps and moved his hand with a sense of expression and calm and satisfaction. Pragathi was still keeping her eyes closed and just focusing on her breathing. This was almost the fuel for Gubbu’s movement. His dancing was almost like the hot air that blows out from a coffee cup, or the dancing of the smoke at a campfire. The movements had the same grace, passion and diversity in its rhythm. At this point Pragathi, who was calm for this while got distracted by the thought that Gubbu might be dancing. She opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of her nearly 6ft tall Jeevi taking graceful leaps in the air with alternating hand movements. He had not seen her huge friend capable of movement like this, even the day he danced with her it was very different from what she saw today. There was a wide smile that grew on her face and she let out a chuckle.\nBut as soon as this happened Gubbu noticed her and sensed discomfort. He went back to walking, sitting and plucking the grass. Cycles like this went on for the next 20 minutes, Gubbu did not dance much after that. After 20 minutes were done Shreya called both of them back to her and asked them how they felt. “I told you that I could barely dance” said Gubbu and “No, I saw you looked great. It was my fault I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have opened my eyes that quickly” said Pragathi. But both of them seemed to agree that they felt somewhat good and a little closer to each other after the session. “Well the trick is to do it regularly, today was your first day and you were just introduced to the possibility of what Gubbu dancing could mean to both of you. The more you do it everyday, the longer Gubbu can dance and before you know it soon you will be able to dance with each other”.\nAfter the session they thanked Shreya and went back to Amma and Appa. Amma asked how the session was, Pragathi said “Amma, I saw Gubbu dance, he dances so well. It was like seeing a huge bunny rabbit. So cute”. They both got settled in the backseat of the car. Pragathi was narrating the whole session to Amma, and how it was fun. Gubbu sat next to her quietly, he felt somewhat embarrassed and vulnerable. He did enjoy the dancing part, but all the discomfort and unpredictability that came before that was something he dreaded. “Hey, maybe we should tell Ayansh and Roxy to try this tomorrow,” said Pragathi to Gubbu. “I am sure Ayansh will come up with some lame excuse to get out of it” he said unimpressed. That day when they went home they tried this dancing exercise again, they did the next day and a few alternate days after that for a couple of weeks. Sometimes they would come to KMCC and sometimes they would just try at home whenever they got time. Gubbu dancing varied each time, some days he danced for 5 minutes, some days hardly for 30 seconds. But whatever the duration was they would feel weirdly nice at the end of it and it would make them want to do it again. Four years later when Pragathi was 18, one day they danced, together, for 3 whole minutes. And it felt great.\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/writing/pandg/","summary":"It was a warm summer evening in Samnagar. Pragathi sat with Gubbu in the backseat of her car, there was a lot of silence from her side and some talking from her Amma and Appa in the front. She was sitting quietly and unmoved whereas Gubbu was busy drawing imaginary shapes on the window of the car. He first drew a wave, then drew three circles and found an intricate pattern to connect all the elements.","title":"BuddhiGV - Pragathi and Gubbu"},{"content":"About PLASMA (Previously PAPAD) and the Channapatna Health Library Documentation for PAPAD: https://open.janastu.org/projects/papad PLASMA is developed by Janastu used in the Channapatna Health Library (CHL). CHL is a joint venture between Design Beku, Janastu and MAYA. It is a digital repository of local health experiences and traditional knowledge about wellbeing practices in India. Collectively built by an informal collective of women community Health Navigators (HNs) on a local decentralized community network.\nPlASMA is a tool to upload, archive and annotate audio/video content related to health and people\u0026rsquo;s lived expriences in the community. PLASMA is self hosted service which is hosted through Docker on the community network. The tool enables users create groups on which media can be uploaded. This media can later be annotated with time stamps to provide additional information. The data to the repository is contributed and managed by front line Health Navigators (HNs) employed by MAYA.\nUploading interviews in the form of audio and video to PLASMA The HNs provide door to door health checkups (BP, Sugar levels) and basic health related counselling in the community. During their interaction with the community they record audio/video interviews of people\u0026rsquo;s lived health experiences. These interviews are uploaded to PLASMA (CHL) during their weekly meetings.\nPLASMA is accessible only on the community network. To access it, they have to be near the meeting office, connect to the Wifi and enter the local IP Address to access PLASMA. The interface is accessible across devices on the network. Once they access the interface, they upload the various information and interviews collected through the week.\nApproach to problem solving My role through the project was in understanding the existing workflow of uploading media to PLASMA (previously PAPAD), understanding challenges, conducting workshops and discussions with the HNs to codesign solutions, designing and prototyping solutions and taking them back to the HNs for feedback.\nMapping workflow and identifying pain points Thinking of the workflow in a situation like this demanded looking at a user journey from before the application. Most interfaces cater to a certain kind of literacy which involved reading and writing proficiency. Since the entire knowledge base here was built on oral artefacts, the interface and the processes demanded relooking at accessibility and challenging existing digital literacy standards. This meant creating interfaces that thrives with:\nAudio and speech to text typing Supporting multi lingual data entry Minimal usage of other complex applications and interfaces Co designing solutions with the HNs The project was deeply rooted in situated place based practices and participatory co design principles. Hence all brainstorming as thinking of solutions were done with the HNs who are primary contributors of CHL. The workshop was directed towrads establishing problems and identifying alternates and solutions. As a designer, my main role was in creating designs, mockups and prototypes from insights generated in the discussion. Final designs Most of my design changes were done with the layouting and visual hierarchy. The design system and elements were retained as the users were already familiar with it and changing elements would mean a lot of confusion.\nPage displaying various groups Page displaying various media in a group Page displaying a media and annotations ","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/papad/","summary":"About PLASMA (Previously PAPAD) and the Channapatna Health Library Documentation for PAPAD: https://open.janastu.org/projects/papad PLASMA is developed by Janastu used in the Channapatna Health Library (CHL). CHL is a joint venture between Design Beku, Janastu and MAYA. It is a digital repository of local health experiences and traditional knowledge about wellbeing practices in India. Collectively built by an informal collective of women community Health Navigators (HNs) on a local decentralized community network.","title":"PLASMA - Co Designing Accessible Interfaces"},{"content":"Documenting urbanization and land use in Gantiganahalli through participatory mapping and GIS Analysis\nPixelation of village level data The project looks at Gantiganahalli as an example village to understand the transition of urbanization and land use in peri urban areas of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Available sources to data often under-represent or misrepresent peri urban areas. It was observed that popular open source data platforms like Openstreetmaps had very little to no data available on Gantiganahalli. Various sources of satellite imagery were used to understand urban sprawl and land use in the village, but given the scale of these images, it was observed that the data often gets pixelated and proves to be less informative and generalized. The entirety of a village gets reduced to some pixels.\nMapping a village ground up OSM ID mapping using satellite imagery This was the method that was majorly used. OSM ID is a browser based openstreetmaps editor for contributing data to OSM. It is an interface that provides a base layer with satellite imagery, on top of which, polygons and lines can be drawn. For example a road is a line which is traced and then tagged with features like road name, crosss, main, is it one way or two way etc. A polygon which is drawn can be marked as abuilding, an area, landuse with their respective features.\nOn field mapping using Everydoor app The primary motive of this on field mapping was to understand places and points of interest. Another important motive of this mapping methodology was to understand the built structures and the urbanization in the area. This involved studying buildings, their structures and understand the urban influence.\nParticipatory Mapping at the Gram Panachayat library Mapping on a physical map The participants of the workshop mapped places in the village. The whole workshop was informal and very spontaneous. I did not have a pre set deliverable or an outcome that I specifically wanted from the workshop. I began by asking the kids to point out and mark places that they knew. This could be any place they like, a playground, a shop, their house etc.\nMapping with Street view A session was conducted where the children were oriented to Google street view and were given an online tour of the entire village. The idea of street view was new to most of them which gave rise to interesting questions like \u0026ldquo;Why are the smaller roads not mapped?\u0026rdquo;,\u0026ldquo;Can they see inside my house also?\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Can I see Mysore and America on this?\u0026rdquo;. While these questions seem merely curiousat first glance, they led to interesting discussions around privacy and surveillance\nMapping with the Panchayath development office The second session that was conducted was done with the Panchayat development officer, Poonacha. In this case, the map acted as a supporting artifact for any explanations or illustrations done by him. The basic questions asked were around the growing urban trends in the village, some historical places, waste and sewage management systems, development and renovation of the lake etc.\nUpdated map of Gantiganahalli after all mapping sessions Pixelated Memories: People and places in pixels The entirety of a village gets reduced to some pixels. If the whole story of a village is toldby some pixels, what remains, what transforms and what is lost in this fight to fit into squares\nThe project culminates in an interactive installation to reimagine data limitations and bridge the gap between quantitative data and qualitative human experiences. Collaborative activities were conducted with the village children, aimed at identifying significant places within their village. The installation comprises 23 pixels Pixels that serve as miniature galleries, capturing the essence and importance of the location\nThe back of the pixel contain hand wrtitten reflections of each image in Kannada\nGreen pixels in the installation depict places and entities local to a rural setting and specific to the context of Gantiganahalli. The red pixel shows the influence of urbanization and how it finds its way into the map. ","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/pixelmem/","summary":"Documenting urbanization and land use in Gantiganahalli through participatory mapping and GIS Analysis\nPixelation of village level data The project looks at Gantiganahalli as an example village to understand the transition of urbanization and land use in peri urban areas of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Available sources to data often under-represent or misrepresent peri urban areas. It was observed that popular open source data platforms like Openstreetmaps had very little to no data available on Gantiganahalli.","title":"Pixelated Memories"},{"content":"Introduction Bengaluru was known to have over 1000 lakes. The earliest record of a lake in Bengaluru dates back to the 16th century when the founder of Bangalore Kempe Gowda, started constructing artificial tanks for irrigation, fishing and drinking water. Since then, the lakes have been expanded and adapted under the succeeding Mysore Kings and under British colonial rule. Lakes not only helped improve Bengaluru\u0026rsquo;s micro climate, they also helped in replenishing ground water and provided sources of livelihood to many. Most of Bengaluru\u0026rsquo;s lakes are actually irrigation tanks. These lakes, apart from being used for irrigation also had environmental uses. Some of which are flood control, water storage, groundwater recharge, domestic uses etc. For example, Dhobi Ghat became a center for people to wash and dry clothes. In the recent years these lakes have been converted to residential areas, bus stands, stadiums etc. Few notable conversions are: Dharmambudhi kere converted into the Kempegowda bus stand, Vijinipura lake into Rajarajeshwari layout, Jakarayana kere into Krishna floor mill, Hennur lake into the HBR Layout, Shoolay lake into a football stadium etc. The condition of lakes in Bengaluru are often polluted. They are subjected to dumping of building debris, untreated domestic sewage, industrial effluents etc. Each land use around the lake contribute to a different kind of pollution. For example, lakes in industrial areas see discharge of heavy metals and detergents, agricultural areas see harmful fertilizers and commercial or residential units see untreated sewage and building debris. A field survey of 105 wetlands (Ramachandra et al., 2016) showed that 98% of lakes have been encroached by illegal buildings, these could be high rise apartments, commercial building, slums, etc. Another field survey (IISc, \u0026ldquo;Wetlands\u0026rdquo;) of lakes in 2014-15 showed that nearly 90% of lakes are fed by untreated sewage, 38% are surrounded by slums and 82% showed loss of catchment area. It also revealed that these catchments were used as dumping yards for either municipal solid waste or building debris. When spaces and areas around lakes in urban areas are observed, it can be seen that they are prone to flooding. One of the primary reason for this is the encroachment of lake beds and Rajakaluves.\nRajakaluves and the interconnected nature of lakes in Bengaluru Rajakaluves are storm water drains that connect lakes in Bengaluru. These kaluves form an interconnected cascading system of lakes in Bengaluru.These drains or kaluves are designed to regulate water flow from higher elevations to lower elevations. The city is located at an altitude of 920 metres above the sea level and the natural flow of water is away from the city into the surrounding valleys. Each valley gives birth to smaller streams which cascade down to form major stream systems. The city also has other natural water resources. There are 3 rivers which flow through Bengaluru i.e. Vrishabhavati, Arkavathi and Dakshina Pinakini. Other water resources are open well and private borewells. There are 4 main valley systems in Bengaluru. They are Arkavathi valley, Hebbal - Nagavara, Vrishabhavathi and Koramangala Challagatta.\n{width=\u0026ldquo;35%\u0026rdquo;}\nRajakaluves as public infrastructure Rajakaluves pass through different parts of Bengaluru. They almost cut through them to make slices of the city. Initially these water bodies were clear and seen as streams eventually the BBMP started building walls around it to create a path for the flow of water. This later tranformed more as the areas became more urbanised. They became a dumping space for a lot of waste. The authorities put up grills and fences around these spaces to avoid disposal of waste. Yet these Kaluves continue to be prone to lot of waste even today. Moreover untreated sewage water was let into these raja kaluves and that would mix with rain water. This meant that in most seasons the kaluves ran dry with just sewage water and a lot of waste. The poor condition of these meant that there is a lot of smell in the vicinity. Shop owners often complained that customers hesitated to enter shops because of the smell. Prahalad, a development officer in the BBMP mentioned in an interview that the area around this land was often also a spot for rowdy elements and anti social elements (K100 citizen\u0026rsquo;s Waterway documentary, 2023). The area around these Rajakaluves are often unused for residential purposes, mostly temporary residences of low income groups.\nThe K100 project The K100 Citizen\u0026rsquo;s waterway is an initiative taken up in Bengaluru to rejuvenate a stretch of Rajakaluve. This kaluve is a historically significant rajakaluves which starts from Shanthala Silks near Kempegowda bus stand, and drains into Bellandur Lake. The catchment area spans 32 sq km, which includes the historic city, cantonment and newly-formed layouts post-independence. This waterway can be seen in maps of the area dating back to 1885 (Rajagopal, 2022). As the city grew outward with increasing population and industry, the rajakaluve started to get more and more channelised. The once clean path for rain water to flow eventually turned into a garbage dump and untreated sewage water was being discharged into it. The kaluve according to the locals, existed from the time of the British Raj. The area around the kaluve also seemed unsafe and became a center for anti social elements. The K100 project aimed at rejuvenating this kaluve and designing it with people as a part of public infrastructure. The key design interventions for this project were:\nTreating sewage: Elimination of sewage inflow and untreated industrial effluents in the rajakaluve. This also involved removing garbage dumping. A lot of sweage pipes were connected to this Kaluve and those had to be redirected. One of the main interventions involve setting up a sewage treatment plant at the upstream of the kaluve and releasing treated sewage water into these kaluves. This ensured 24/7 running water on all 365 days De-silting: This process involved the removal of contaminated silt from the drain beds. Using natural materials and natural bio-remediation techniques to improve water quality as well as increase natural infiltration. This process proved to be a major challenge. The SWD Department has ramped up efforts to desilt the secondary drain network across the entire 32 sq km catchment area. This is a difficult task since this network has 10 secondary SWDs, which includes 11.5 km of open drains and 9.6 km of closed drains. Creating pedestrian-friendly infrastructure: One of the main intents of the project was to re think of rajakaluves as a part of public infrastructure. Cleaning up the space was the first step to this, the next step was to design the infrastructure around it. The complete design of the K100 is yet to be implemented as of October 2023, but the plan involves creating walking and cycling paths around the stream. These paths cover the distance of the stream itself and could be also seen as an alternate means of commute from Shanthinagar to Koramangla. Additionally these spaces also intend to have benches, plants and other spaces which could be accessed at any time of the day. Thyagarajanagar - Hoskerehalli kaluve To further understand Kaluves, a stretch of kaluve present in Thyagaraja nagar was studied. Studies were done through primary field visits, talking to locals and Google street view analysis. The kaluve connects to the Hoskerehalli lake. It traverses from Thyagaraja nagar, Girinagar, Hoskerehalli etc. This paper presents the findings of a study of the space informed by secondary and primary methods. The prominent features of the space include mixed land use, close buildings, garbage dumping. The reason it becomes important to consider land use around the space is because reimagining a space like this then comes with a constraint of not harming the buildings, both residential and commercial.\nGoogle street view analysis The primary stretch focused in this street view analysis is the one in 14th cross road of Thyagaraja nagar. The land use around the area appeared to be very mixed. There were temples, commercial shops which were at the intersection of the road. There was a temple situated right on top of the Kaluve. There was a driving school nearby and the empty space around the drain was used as parking for heavy vehicles. Another part of the kaluve was very close to apartment buildings. There seemed to be buildings on the boundary walls of the kaluve. As per the rules by the BBMP there needs to be a distance of 3 metres from the center of the drain which seemed absent in a lot of buildings around this kaluve (Initiative, Rajakaluve encroachment finder 2016). Thus a lot of the land seemed to be encraoched by building spaces. According to the data released by the revenue department, there is data available for three survey numbers that have documented encroachment. The kaluve itself however is filled with a lot of garbage. The roads built around the kaluve are narrow and sometimes cause traffic congestion as well. The main problems in this area seem the garbage disposal and the unhygenic environment.\n{width=\u0026ldquo;80%\u0026rdquo;}\n{width=\u0026ldquo;80%\u0026rdquo;}\n{width=\u0026ldquo;70%\u0026rdquo;}\nFollowing the kaluve by road To further understand the Kaluve a primary field visit was conducted. The kaluve was studied at every stage from its source in Thyagaraja nagar to its end point in the Hoskerehalli lake. The kaluve was already mapped on Open street maps and it was used to follow the path of the drain. The distance was covered on a bike and field interviews, photo documentation was done throughout the distance. The activity was primarily useful in understanding the nature of a kaluve as an infrastructure and the way public engages with the space. Given below are some trends and observation.\nThe kaluves are very often used as dumping yards. This was an insight that was gathered through secndary research and it was strongly confirmed by primary visits. Both the water flowing and the area around it are commonly filled with garbage. The waste is mostly plastic, waste from houses etc. The areas around the kaluve were additionally damp and filled with plastic/food waste. Therefore one can commonly spot domestic animals like dogs, cows trying to find food in these dumps. The area if isolated is also used for urination by men and animals alike. ::: {layout-nrow=\u0026ldquo;2\u0026rdquo;} :::\nThere were temporary settlements around the kaluve at some places. These were often houses with built with stone, with sheet roofs. They were either small houses or commercial spaces like a tea/pan shop or a condiment store. A shop owner also stated that the kaluve has not caused any harm to their establishment apart from the smell. There have been no cases of water overflowing or flooding into these spaces. The kaluve is not a fully open drainage system. Most of the times, while travelling by roads it becomes hard to walk exactly alongside a kaluve. One stretch of the kaluve is the underground and has settlements on top and beside the drain. It was also observed that in such cases, often sewage from houses on top of the drain are often let into these kaluves.\nThe kaluve cuts through densely populated areas and by design forms a junction of roads. These roads tend to be narrow and cause traffic congestion. In more residential areas, the buildings are sometimes very close to the kaluves and do not seem to follow the mandatory 50m buffer zone as instructed by the BBMP.\n{width=\u0026ldquo;70%\u0026rdquo;}\n{width=\u0026ldquo;70%\u0026rdquo;}\nThe Hoskerehalli lake is the end point of the Kaluve. The lake was supposed be rejuvenated in January 2019 but the project was abandoned halfway (Niranjan Kaggere, \u0026ldquo;Shoddy BDA work to blame for hosakerehalli lake mess\u0026rdquo;, n.a.). The sewage from the nearby buildings and the water from the kaluve are being discharged into the lakes. There were supposed to be walking paths constructed around the lake, but the construction has stopped and the debris around the lake has encouraged more garbage dumping in the vicinity. {width=\u0026ldquo;70%\u0026rdquo;}\n{width=\u0026ldquo;70%\u0026rdquo;}\nA K100 like model for the Thyagaraja Nagara - Hoskerehalli kaluve The basic idea or objective of the K100 is to re imagine Rajakaluves as a space for public engagement. This would involve mainly cleaning up the space in their present condition and building infrastructure around the drains to make it more pedestrian friendly. A model like that would prove to be effective in this context but would come with a set of challenges that may require planners to rethink the solution especially in terms of the infrastructure. The first part of cleaning up and de-silting will prove to be very effective because this kaluve has a lot of illegal sewage inlets, garbage dumping problems. The idea of introducing a sewage treatment plant at the upstream of the drain will be very helpful in ensuring clear water flows through the drains and clear water enters the lake. Infact it would also be useful to introduce an STP at the Hoskerehalli lake to ensure that the lake is not polluted. The challenge mainly occurs however in the way the K100 model looks at redesigning the public space around the kaluve. The kaluve passes through residential and commercial areas like which means that many buildings are in a very close vicinity of the drain.\nA GIS analysis was performed to understand the number of buildings around the Kaluve, the storm water drain system data was extracted from openstreetmaps and the buildings data was taken from Google\u0026rsquo;s open building footprint data. The analysis highlighted that around 970 buildings along the stretch of the kaluve that lie in a buffer zone of 50 metres from the drain and its tributaries. In the figure, the buildings in red are the buildings that fall in this zone. There have been cases in the past where BDA has called for mass demolition of houses that encroach a rajakaluve. A public infrastructure that enables end to end walking/cycling paths would call for these buildings to be demolished and space around the drain to be widened for public spaces. This could prove to be very difficult as there are a lot of buildings that are in the affected zone some major stretches of the drain lie underground, which means that there are roads and buildings build on top the drain system. The solutions to enable pedestrian commute seamlessly require more rigorous planning and thought in contexts like this.\nConclusion The K100 project and the idea of a citizen waterway puts forth an idea of a Bengaluru that enable pedestrians to commute from one place to another along a perennial running stream of a kaluve. This is especially important in a city like Bengaluru because there is a lack of public spaces that are always open. The citizen waterway promises a public infrastructure that not only acts as a recreational space but also adds utilitarian value in choosing a scenic alternate to traveling on road. While the idea holds a lot of value and power, the execution comes with its own set of challenges as Bengaluru is very diverse in its settlements. This paper highlights one such kaluve and the challenges that could come up in re imagining it. This paper in its approach and methodology acts a starting point to imagine kaluve centered audits of spaces that study trends of urbanization, waste-disposal, sewage drainage systems, settlements, and public engagement. Audits like these need to be performed for all primary storm water drains in Bengaluru and then the secondary ones. This then enables planners, designers and architects in reimagining the conceptualizing and executing a project as visionary as the K100 citizen\u0026rsquo;s waterway project.\nBibliography Azizi, Ali, B. Malakmohamadi and Hamid Reza Jafari. \u0026ldquo;Land use and land cover spatiotemporal dynamic pattern and predicting changes using integrated CA-Markov model.\u0026rdquo; Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management 2 (2016): 223-234.\nBatty, Michael, and Stephen Marshall. \u0026ldquo;Centenary Paper: The Evolution of Cities: Geddes, Abercrombie and the New Physicalism.\u0026rdquo; Town Planning Review 80, no. 6 (November 2009): 551\u0026ndash;74. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2009.12.\nHebbar, R, V Poompavai, R Sudha, T R Nagashree, S Ramasubramoniam, K S Ramesh, K Ganesha Raj, et al. \u0026ldquo;Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Lakes and Natural Drainage Patterns of Bengaluru City Using Historical Satellite Images,\u0026rdquo; n.d.\nJain University, Meena Y.R, and Anil Kumar Gupta. \u0026ldquo;Evaluation of Stormwater BMPs Performances for Flood Volume Reduction in Bengaluru City, Karnataka, India.\u0026rdquo; International Journal of Civil Engineering 5, no. 7 (July 25, 2018): 5\u0026ndash;10. https://doi.org/10.14445/23488352/IJCE-V5I7P102.\nLawrence, Denise L. \u0026ldquo;The Built Environment and Spatial Form,\u0026rdquo; n.d.\nMathanraj, S, N Rusli, and G H T Ling. \u0026ldquo;Applicability of the CA-Markov Model in Land-Use/Land Cover Change Prediction for Urban Sprawling in Batticaloa Municipal Council, Sri Lanka.\u0026rdquo; IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 620 (January 9, 2021): 012015. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/620/1/012015.\nMundoli, Seema, B. Manjunath, and Harini Nagendra. \u0026ldquo;Effects of Urbanisation on the Use of Lakes as Commons in the Peri-Urban Interface of Bengaluru, India.\u0026rdquo; International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development 7, no. 1 (January 2, 2015): 89\u0026ndash;108. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2014.982124.\nNiranjan Kaggere, D. (n.d.). Shoddy BDA work to blame for hosakerehalli lake mess. Retrieved from https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/shoddy-bda-work-to-blame-for-hosakerehalli-lake-mess-775176.html\nRajagopal, R. (2022). Retrieved from https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/all-about-k100-stormwater-drain-citizens-waterway-project-69378\n(2023). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0akctyI4Us\u0026pp=ygUWazEwMCBjaXRpemVucyB3YXRlcndheQ%3D%3D\nRamachandra, T V, and Bharath H Aithal. \u0026ldquo;Decaying Lakes of Bengaluru and Today\u0026rsquo;s Irrational Decision Makers,\u0026rdquo; n.d.\nRamachandra, T V, Bharath H Aithal, S Vinay, and Aamir Amin Lone. \u0026ldquo;ENVIS Technical Report 55,\u0026rdquo; n.d.\nRamachandra, T V, and Sincy Varghese. \u0026ldquo;WATER SITUATION IN BENGALURU.\u0026rdquo; Technical Report, 2016.\nScott, James C. Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. Yale Agrarian Studies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998.\nTuan, Yi-Fu. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. 7. print. Minneapolis, Minn.: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2011.\nViswanathan, Radhika. \u0026ldquo;Bangalore and Its Lakes,\u0026rdquo; n.d.\n\u0026ldquo;WETLANDS: TREASURE OF BANGALORE.\u0026rdquo;, IISc Accessed September 24, 2023. https://wgbis.ces.iisc.ac.in/energy/water/paper/ETR101/content.html.\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/writing/rajakaluve/","summary":"Introduction Bengaluru was known to have over 1000 lakes. The earliest record of a lake in Bengaluru dates back to the 16th century when the founder of Bangalore Kempe Gowda, started constructing artificial tanks for irrigation, fishing and drinking water. Since then, the lakes have been expanded and adapted under the succeeding Mysore Kings and under British colonial rule. Lakes not only helped improve Bengaluru\u0026rsquo;s micro climate, they also helped in replenishing ground water and provided sources of livelihood to many.","title":"Reimagining Rajakaluves"},{"content":"Geo tagging and visualizing sacred groves of Kodagu. View project at:\nhttps://kodagostudio.github.io/Kodago/daivanakshe/experiment.html\nIntroduction Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees that have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. This project attempts to document sacred groves in different villages of Kodagu and visualize the amount of area conserved in each village as a result of it. The concept of Devarakadu or the Sacred Grove is a very popular tradition in Kodagu. Sacred groves exist all over India and in the rest of the world but what makes Kodagu unique is that this little district has probably the highest density of sacred groves in all of India with about 1214 that are officially listed. Almost every village has one or more sacred groves, while 14 villages have more than ten groves each. (Kushalappa and Kushalappa 1996).\nProcess Understanding sacred groves and their importance: The project began by research around sacred groves. The topic was introduced initially by Savinaya MS, a researcher who did his Phd around sacred groves in the western ghats.\nField visits to sacred groves in Coorg Visits were conducted to three sacred groves in Kodagu to understand the cultural importance of these places to the locals and the families there. Visiting One of the sacred groves we visited has a monolith dedicated to the deity Ayappa which is said to date back to 10000 BC.\nSourcing data The data set of sacred groves were taken from the CPREEC website. Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC) is a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Education established by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF\u0026amp;CC), Government of India, and CPR Foundation, Chennai, in 1989. The data was provided to them by Dr. C.G. Kushalappa\nGrouping and geo tagging data Since the data was documented a few decades ago, there was a need to manually group data according to present day villages and geo tag them with their locations. An updated dataset was created with their present day villages. The data for villages and their boundaries was taken from the Karnataka GIS portal and merged in Python.\nBuilding the interface to visualize An interactive website and an interface was built to visualize the number of deities worshiped in each village along with the area conserved as a result of it.\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/sacred/","summary":"Geo tagging and visualizing sacred groves of Kodagu. View project at:\nhttps://kodagostudio.github.io/Kodago/daivanakshe/experiment.html\nIntroduction Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees that have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. This project attempts to document sacred groves in different villages of Kodagu and visualize the amount of area conserved in each village as a result of it. The concept of Devarakadu or the Sacred Grove is a very popular tradition in Kodagu.","title":"Daiva Nakshe"},{"content":"Millions of Microbes in the Birth Canal Denied International Travel to the New Human Baby Colony: An Interview with Biffy the Bifidobacterium Political news, Bircan\nWe had the opportunity to speak with Biffy, a Bifidobacterium living in Bircan, a small city that is a part of our Nation’s birth canal. Biffy shared with us some concerns surrounding the Bircan community and their contribution to the development of the newborn in the body. They observed that there was increased oxytocin in the environment and understood that there is going to be the arrival of a baby, a new human landscape that could be a potential colony for them\nBiffy explained that there is an age-old agreement between the local cells and the microbes in the birth canal. When there is a birth of a new human terrain, their fellow microbes are allowed to establish their colonies on it, and in turn, they help the cells in its immune system with respect to defense against external harm. Biffy and his fellow microbes have been working closely with the immune cells for years, even offering resistance training to them.\n“We were excitedly waiting for the arrival of a new human baby,” Biffy said. “My colony, consisting of millions of fellow microbes, was eagerly anticipating the moment when we will be introduced to the baby\u0026rsquo;s skin and digestive system. We were ready to start our work, helping to build a healthy and diverse microbiome that would support the baby\u0026rsquo;s growth and development.”\nHowever, Biffy explained that their plans were disrupted when they learned that the baby was not going to be born via its original route, through the vaginal and through an external intervention called the C-section. “Our troops waited at the vaginal exit for so long and were disheartened when they got to know that the transfer shall not be happening,” he said. “This news was devastating to our community, as it meant that we would be denied the opportunity to travel to the new human colony.” Biffy went on to explain that only a few of their citizens got to travel, and a lot of them were left behind. “We condemn this behavior,” he said. “We regret to inform you that we cannot promise the same kind of immunity and protection to the new human body that was promised through a vaginal layover. But as responsible citizens of this female body, we have a proposal where we can meet both our demands midway. We immediately demand the procedure of a vaginal seeding.”\nBiffy clarified that vaginal seeding involves arranging another travel opportunity using a swab for a troop of microbes to their residents on the new terrain, migrating them from the Bircan city. This, he explained, could mean that his fellow microbes can create and develop a stronger biome to deliver the immunity they had promised, at least to an extent.\nBiffy believes that vaginal seeding is a safe and effective way to ensure that the millions of microbes in the birth canal can continue to do their important work in establishing a healthy microbiome in newborns. “We understand that there may be concerns about the safety of these external troops and how some harmful microbes could enter in this procedure,” he said. “But we believe that with proper screening and precautions, we can ensure that the microbes introduced to the baby are safe and beneficial.”\nBiffy and his fellow microbes in the birth canal of Bircan are not alone in their desire to promote the importance of the microbiome. The process of vaginal delivery is not just about the mother and the baby, but it is also about the millions of microbes that live in the mother\u0026rsquo;s birth canal. We have a crucial role to play in building the baby\u0026rsquo;s immune system and establishing a healthy microbiome. As a microbial community, we understand the importance of adaptability and flexibility in the face of changing circumstances. While we are disappointed that we were not able to establish our colony on the new human terrain, we are still hopeful that there may be other opportunities to do so in the future. We believe that vaginal seeding will allow them to create and develop a stronger biome, delivering the immunity that was promised to the newborn terrain, at least to an extent. As responsible citizens of the female body, we are hopeful that our demand for vaginal seeding will be met, allowing them to continue their important work in building a healthy microbiome for the new human terrain.\nBibliography Hourigan SK, Dominguez-Bello MG, Mueller NT. Can maternal-child microbial seeding interventions improve the health of infants delivered by Cesarean section? Cell Host Microbe. 2022 May 11;30(5):607-611. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.02.014. PMID: 35550663; PMCID: PMC9237654.\nRíos-Covian D, Langella P, Martín R. From Short- to Long-Term Effects of C-Section Delivery on Microbiome Establishment and Host Health. Microorganisms. 2021 Oct 9;9(10):2122. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9102122. PMID: 34683443; PMCID: PMC8537978.\nThe human microbiome (2014) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugg3Jynib6g\u0026pp=ygUQaHVtYW4gbWljcm9iaW9tZQ%3D%3D (Accessed: April 19, 2023).\nThe invisible universe of the human microbiome (2013) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DTrENdWvvM\u0026pp=ygUQaHVtYW4gbWljcm9iaW9tZQ%3D%3D (Accessed: April 19, 2023).\nKc (2022) A pediatrician\u0026rsquo;s perspective on C-section births and the gut microbiome, International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP). KC https://isappscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ISAPP_LogoRedsign_horz.png. Available at: https://isappscience.org/a-pediatricians-perspective-on-c-section-births-and-the-gut-microbiome/ (Accessed: April 19, 2023).\nPresidents forum: The changing human microbiome - ASM microbe 2022 (2022) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz-4zsUWSYg\u0026pp=ygUQaHVtYW4gbWljcm9iaW9tZQ%3D%3D (Accessed: April 19, 2023).\nVaginal seeding (no date) ACOG. Available at: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2017/11/vaginal-seeding (Accessed: April 19, 2023).\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/writing/biffy/","summary":"Millions of Microbes in the Birth Canal Denied International Travel to the New Human Baby Colony: An Interview with Biffy the Bifidobacterium Political news, Bircan\nWe had the opportunity to speak with Biffy, a Bifidobacterium living in Bircan, a small city that is a part of our Nation’s birth canal. Biffy shared with us some concerns surrounding the Bircan community and their contribution to the development of the newborn in the body.","title":"An Interview with Biffy the Bifidobacterium"},{"content":"About The product is aimed at being a search engine for researchers with an integrated platform for extensive access to academic material and an aggregated resource to source materials for free or at the lowest price. This was the result of a two week long design sprint facilitated by Chitra Gurjar. ","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/payperpaper/","summary":"About The product is aimed at being a search engine for researchers with an integrated platform for extensive access to academic material and an aggregated resource to source materials for free or at the lowest price. This was the result of a two week long design sprint facilitated by Chitra Gurjar. ","title":"(don't) Pay-Per Paper"},{"content":"Smitha and Ankit are a couple who planned to have a baby. Smitha is a few days pregnant and she came to Breathing Labs to have her baby designed. She is welcomed by Ankush who is a trained bio life designer. Ankush welcomes Smitha to his cabinet and checks in on her health. Smitha said that she has been doing well and is extremely excited at the prospect of having a baby. He then asks for the genetic data from the embryo samples given by the medical lab at her last visit. Smitha then shares a data file with him. He also asks for the signed consent form involving signatures of the parents, and the lab that did the scan. He then loads all the genetic information onto the computer and asks her “So tell me Smitha what kind of a baby are you expecting to have?” Ankit interrupts and says “Nothing too specific in mind, just some basic requirements. We come from a family of engineers, so we were thinking that our child could foster the genes required to crack entrance exams”. Ankush smiled in familiarity, this was not the first time he was explaining to a customer that genome editing is not a genie wish list, but a bet on probabilities. Just a really accurate, well tried and tested one. “Sir we don\u0026rsquo;t have specific genes responsible for cracking JEE-3 exams unfortunately. Genetic modification is done to facilitate selection of genes” He then went on to explain the concept of CRISPR. CRISPR is a genetic engineering method that was started out in 2016-18. It did not gain popularity at its time, but that was the first recorded incident of a genetically modified baby that was born. It was achieved by 2 scientists in their lab. But in the 2040s it started becoming popular as the tech got more affordable. CRISPR became the trending term for hustler bros to discuss on their business, tech, fitness podcasts. It was mostly rants about how they worked and trained for months in the gym to gain muscles but these GM babies are born to look buff. Everyone understands science in a way that it immediately concerns them. There was a lot of debate that grew serious on if GM babies were ethical for the human race. Once you introduce the first baby into the world and they grow up to procreate, we introduce genetic modification into the human gene pool and it is irreversible after that. The reason this sparked a debate was because of Lulu and Nana. They were the first genetically modified babies born in November 2018. Nana gave a public statement to the media as soon as she turned 18 that she shall not involve in any means of procreation whatsoever. This was because they had become a center of attraction to a lot of media attention. But Lulu said no such thing, she wanted to live a normal life because she claimed that it was never her choice to be born this way and that she should not be penalized for it. There were numerous rallies with signboards that said we don’t want our babies to become mutants and it was also almost immediately politicized. Because of many incidents and misconceptions on genetic modification and unreal advertising campaigns for decades, consumers like Ankit and Smitha have very wrong perceptions on GM babies. Ankush shows them a dashboard on the screen which had some vitals. “The baby has the right number of chromosomes, which is a good thing. We will not have to worry about medical conditions”. The software he was using was an Adobe software called Jeena. Jeena was an Indian company founded by Amisha Sharma, named by someone who thought Jeena was the perfect amalgamation pun for genes and life. It was acquired by Adobe 1 year into its popularity. Jeena had well designed ML models. Its models had a UNBS rating of almost 75%, which was the highest at that time. UNBS is a system that was used to measure algorithmic biases or how biased a training dataset is. It was a result of the continuous efforts initially started by Joy Buolamwini. Everytime, you enter a baby’s genetic makeup into Jeena. It runs it through multiple ML models which then give you predictions on how the baby could look. You then enter a character editing interface like the ones we used to have in early age realistic video games like Cyberpunk. You get to choose every physical characteristic of the baby for different age levels based on the ML predictions. You can also choose intellectual capabilities as well. This parametric system involved aspects like critical thinking, aptitude, problem solving etc. Ankush explained to Ankith that there was no specific metric that guaranteed an IIT seat but studies have shown that babies with 80+ aptitude and 90+ retention capacity generally clear these exams. Ankith told him to implement that and Ankush altered the RC and aptitude metrics. They had enough money to afford one more modification so he asked Ankush to give the baby curly hair like Smitha. Apparently that was what he found attractive in her. It did not seem like Smitha had much to say or disagree. Ankush did all the necessary changes and exported the modified file. He told Ankit to go and give it to the medical lab and they will imprint it on the embryo cells. He told them to specify that they wanted a print in the BNCK format, because assistants tend to use cheaper alternatives like MPGs and that could cause data loss which Breathing labs does not insure\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/writing/adobejeena/","summary":"Smitha and Ankit are a couple who planned to have a baby. Smitha is a few days pregnant and she came to Breathing Labs to have her baby designed. She is welcomed by Ankush who is a trained bio life designer. Ankush welcomes Smitha to his cabinet and checks in on her health. Smitha said that she has been doing well and is extremely excited at the prospect of having a baby.","title":"Adobe Jeena - A WYSIWYG Interface for Genetically modified babies"},{"content":"A gestural input based tool that replicates the physicality of the Abstract expressionism movement and translates it into a digital medium. I explored the design of somaesthetics to mediate a body mind union for this project. I used the infrared sensors in a Kinect to track a user’s body movements, used Processing (JAVA) to translate them into brush strokes where the weight of the stroke depended on the speed of the movement.\nCLICK HERE TO SEE A DEMO VIDEO\nProcess Documentation When I heard that the studio had senses in its scope I wanted to explore different senses and their interplay with those of a computer. This basically means that I wanted to explore how computer sensibility could include interaction in which the user uses more of their body. While researching about body based intuitive interactions, I came across the concept of Somaesthetics.\nSomeaesthetics Someaesthetcis involves designing for the Soma which is a united whole of our mind and our body. It looks at how our body interacts with its surroundings and internally.\nIt perceives the body as a sensitive system as opposed to the ergonomic approach of a fixed structure. There is respect for difference in experience and subjectivity of the differences and personality of each user In the field of product design it looks at how products feel beyond their physical form or their engineering. Pleasure is at the centre of the user experience. Abstract Expressionism This is another aspect that I want to bring about in my final output. A visual output in an abstract expressionist form. The reason for this comes from Hock Aun Teh, ‘Expanding traditions’ **exhibit in GSA Exhibitions. There was a lot of expression and and energy that was captured in the paintings exhibited there. But the most interesting aspect of it were the titles and that was somehow what inspired me work in this direction. The titles were very specific phrases that evoked a certain emotion in the reader which was later mapped on to the painting that was displayed.\nI thought that it would be interesting to create a generative algorithm that creates visual abstract expressionist outputs based on text input of the phrases.\nGestural interactions The reason I feel that a gestural interaction would make sense is because the process of creating a abstract expressionist piece involves a lot of body movements and expressive actions. Therefore when a piece like this is created digitally the vastness and the scale of it is often lost. But if the same is done using full body expressive gestures and postures, then that could be a good way of retaining the philosophy and the expression of the art style.\nTrying to create the Abstract Expressionist style in P5.Js Most of abstract expressionists fell into either of 2 categories (1) Action Painting (2) Colour Field Painting. In this project I wanted to explore Action Painting because of its scope for movement and bodily medium of expression. The traditional ways of painting these involved artists laying a huge canvas in front of them or on the floor and almost ‘attacking’ the canvas. This would cause the paint to drip and follow other natural movements of liquidity. I essentially want to create a function for each of these natural behaviour of liquid paint and then base its movement on different parameters based on my input.\nThe drip effect This is arguably one of the main features of abstract expressionism. This is also what led to Jackson Pollock being called Jack the dripper. To create this effect I followed this tutorial given below and made modifications of my own.\nIn this video basically we create a drip function that takes an initial position for a droplet based on the mouse pointer. Draws a circle at position x,y with radius r and then increments the value of x and y leading the droplet move downwards, and decrements the value of r until it goes to zero leading it to create the fade out effect.\nThe rewrote the code on my device to match my needs a bit better. The major modifications I did are: Originally the function was called at a mouse release, I changed it to being called at a mouse press and this way I could create strokes. The second thing I did was that I wrote a function to randomly change the colour at every new mouse click, this could be later linked to a different parameter based on my input.\nDoing this exercise made me realise that more than the drip effect, it would be something like splash or a splatter would make it more true to the style. The nature of dripping that I created looks unnatural because the dripping does not follow uniform patterns throughout the stroke.\nPre existing Pollock sketches for processing Upon continuing research, I was able to find existing opensource sketches which have a pollock style. But obviously, these are built to follow the mouse pointer. The interesting thing in these sketches are that they have functions like splatter(), drizzle() etc which makes my job a bit more easier.\nThe above image is from a sketch made on p5.js. The code is a bit complex for me to understand but I want to understand how the two functions here ie splatter(bx, by) and drizzle are working and try and control them using gestures.\nThere was no documentations or video tutorials supporting this sketch. So I found another source where a programmer had used this sketch as inspiration to create an improved version on Processing using Python.\nGoing ahead I plan on creating or replicating these same functions in processing Java module as it has a better support of kinect and other deep vision libraries. In this process I would also make a few changes like adding more colours or randomizing a background colour on each clear or something of that sort.\nUsing a kinect to for body tracking I had a conversation with my course professor Paul Maguire on applications of gestural interactions and different ways of doing it . From the conversations I understood that using a kinect would be the best way to go about it. I rented a Xbox 360 kinect from the interaction design studio, booted my laptop to windows and began working on it.\nProcessing + Kinect The very first thing that I had to learn was how to communicate with the kinect using Processing. For that I did a bit of research and understood that there are mainly 2 libraries that are used to communicate with a kinect ie. Kinect4WinSDK OpenKinectForProcessing. Open processing had a few examples that helped with average point tracking, depth threshold etc but no example for skeleton mapping. This was better handled by Kinect4WinSDK. But the problem with this library was its lack of documentation. It was very difficult to understand how the library works and what are the features of it as there was only one example accessible.\nCreating brushes in processing I liked the javascript code mentioned above and recreated the same brushes and functions in processing using Java. It was slightly a difficult tas becasueI had to newly understand OOP concepts of classes and objects in Java.\nBut after some research, youtube videos and reading different documentations, I was able to create an brush class and a brush object that follows the drizzle function\nI initially did this in a different sketch in processing and then decided to link the two together.\nLinking brushes to kinect I was able to follow the structure of the example mentioned earlier, remove the things that I didn\u0026rsquo;t need and reduce it to the bare basics. I was able to get the Kinect camera detect and display a green skeleton on my body.\nI then went on to trying and understand how to access the variable for the right wrist because that was the one I wanted to track in my project.\nTo implement this I modified the program to draw circles on my right wrist and the left wrist and ensure its tracking happens.\nDoing this gave me an idea on how to isolate the wrists and access its x and y cordinates exactly to as on the screen.\nWorking I was able to link the two sketches by creating drawBrushes function that uses the cordinates of the wrist detected and implemets the drizzle function from the previous sketch\nStates and event handling with timers I created different states and events to handle differents parts of the experience\nWaiting screen - No human in frame: This is the idle state of the program when there\u0026rsquo;s no body detected in the frame. There\u0026rsquo;s a fade in with the display of a message saying ‘’No humans detected”\nHand in frame - Interaction: This is the main function that performs the painting interaction. This state is carried out until the user moves out of the frame\nOutro - Saving and repeating: Once the user moves out of the frame, the project is saved, the screen fades out to black and goes back to the starting state\nReflection I was able to do all that I imagined and a bit more as well with this project. This was the my first time with processing and it was a interesting to explore a language that is more static when compared to python and JavaScript. The usage of state handlers and timer functions is a useful skill of have in processing and that was something I learnt in this project. Probably in the upcoming projects I would like experiment with more tangible and physical outcomes.\nSome final images ","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/pollock/","summary":"A gestural input based tool that replicates the physicality of the Abstract expressionism movement and translates it into a digital medium. I explored the design of somaesthetics to mediate a body mind union for this project. I used the infrared sensors in a Kinect to track a user’s body movements, used Processing (JAVA) to translate them into brush strokes where the weight of the stroke depended on the speed of the movement.","title":"Paint like Pollock"},{"content":"Concept note This project is a tangible data visualization of the functionality of cookies saved by different websites. The project was done as a part of the student exchange program at the Glasgow School of Art under the interaction design studio.\nIntent The intent of the project was to create a tangible creative visualization of otherwise invisible data. I decided to go ahead with online tracking because it is generally invisible which makes a lot of consumers ignorant on what kind of data is being taken from these and for what purpose it is being used. Since I was looking at online tracking and data collection through cookies, I decided that it would be interesting to visualize them on actual cookies. The visualization informs the user of the number of cookies collected by popular websites and their functionality. The data is taken from a website called cookie serve which divides cookies into 3 large categories - advertising, analytical and uncategorized.\nDeveloping a visual language The data from cookieserve categorized the cookies into 3 types based on their functionality and I wanted to depict the number of cookies in each type. To come up with a hand drawn visual language, I took inspiration from the work of W.E.B Du Bois.\nVisualization For actually visualizing them on cookies, I decided to get the cookies with the largest surface area I could find from TESCO. I put a layer of cream cheese frosting over it and used icing tubes to draw over it. These cookies arranged on a plate were exhibited as part of the Design Domain exhibit at the Glasgow School of Art.\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/posts/webcookies/","summary":"Concept note This project is a tangible data visualization of the functionality of cookies saved by different websites. The project was done as a part of the student exchange program at the Glasgow School of Art under the interaction design studio.\nIntent The intent of the project was to create a tangible creative visualization of otherwise invisible data. I decided to go ahead with online tracking because it is generally invisible which makes a lot of consumers ignorant on what kind of data is being taken from these and for what purpose it is being used.","title":"Eat your web cookies"},{"content":"Helloo I am Abhiram. I finished my B.Des in Human Centered Design from Srishti Manipal Institute. I did a student exhange semester with The Glasgow School of Art. I always carry a small sketchbook and a thick wallet filled with unwanted receipts.\nIf a grandparent near you needs help with using technology, do reach out to me at: abhiramjois02[at]gmail[dot]com\nWhat was that? The grandparent asked for my resume? Huh that\u0026rsquo;s weird Resume Link\n","permalink":"https://abhiramjois.github.io/about/","summary":"Helloo I am Abhiram. I finished my B.Des in Human Centered Design from Srishti Manipal Institute. I did a student exhange semester with The Glasgow School of Art. I always carry a small sketchbook and a thick wallet filled with unwanted receipts.\nIf a grandparent near you needs help with using technology, do reach out to me at: abhiramjois02[at]gmail[dot]com\nWhat was that? The grandparent asked for my resume? Huh that\u0026rsquo;s weird Resume Link","title":"Abhiram | ಅಭಿರಾಮ"}]