@ -4,4 +4,44 @@ This is the first in a series of experiment to try to make real working machines
It is also an attempt at what some people are calling "Perma-Computing", an approach to digital technologies inspired by de-growth, more natural temporalities as well as social and ecological justice.
One might say that there is a sad irony that when we use digital technologies, we use objects that were made under conditions of extractivism and exploitation
One might say that there is a sad irony that when we use digital technologies, we use objects that were made under conditions of extractivism and exploitation even when we are trying to organize and work for better conditions. I have to acknowledge that I am typing this on a plastic keyboard which is triggering digital signals across copper-coated FR4 circuit boards populated with components coming from brutal, polluting factories and mines far away from here.
But outside my window I see alder and maple trees, their seeds and catkins swinging slightly in the winter breeze. These beings are my neighbors and form a subtle but physically massive part of my immediate surroundings. I would like to know them better and I want to feel that my material life does not stand in a hypocritical contrast to my ideals and beliefs. Instead of plastic keys, I would rather be touching parts of trees.
While it might seem daunting, nearly impossible and frankly naive to think that one could simply decide to stop participating in a globalized, nearly universal system, we might try by starting with something small but direct. I decided to try to build a keyboard from pieces of wood from trees in my direct environment. I don't know if it will let me communicate directly with them but it
### Pragmatics - Research
A traditional US-American keyboard has more than 100 keys, that's quite a lot to make by hand, especially for the first iteration of an experiment. But perhaps more interestingly, the classic QWERTY layout is a bit of an accident of history which invites us to consider what would have happened if we had taken different design choices in the development of text input.
Early typewriter keyboards were quite diverse in their approaches - some arranged the buttons in grids or a round hemisphere or had keys taken directly from a piano. There are a few niches where the remnants of these models are still visible like the chorded keyboards used by stenographers and braille typists.
So I decided to go with a chorded keyboard similar to braille keyboards like the Perkins Brailler. Braille gives us a large advantage of having an existing coding system that translates directly to binary and unicode symbols. While it does privilege particular writing systems, there are codings for a large number of international languages. It's also interesting and perhaps educational to learn other ways of writing and perceiving text, typically only practiced by those with impaired vision.
### Electronics
In the interest of not generating any e-waste, I did not buy any new hardware. I found an Olimexino STM-32 programmable circuit board (similar to Arduino) in a drawer in my studio. It is made by Olimex, a small Bulgarian manufacturer that strictly produces Open Hardware. It can be programmed to emulate a standard USB keyboard without requiring any special software on the connected PC.
### Wood
Since this work was begun during the Anaïs Berck residency in Brussels, I wanted to use a local piece of wood. As we were walking back from lunch one day, on the Chaussée de Haecht / Haachtse Steenweg I found some branches of a Silver Maple tree which seemed to have had an unfortunate encounter with a tall delivery van. While cured maple can be tough to work with hand tools, this wood was still quite "green" and soft enough for our small-scale work. We thank the tree for its gift to us.
### Human- and other Biological Factors
The initial design was, admittedly, rather naïve, but served the purpose of bringing enough success to motivate further iterations. A simple frame, joined with round tenons connected four sides and a brass rod ran across the base to serve as a ground contact for each of the touch-keys.
The keys themselves were slices of branches, Ø20mm approximately. They were attached to curved twigs which were shaved down thin enough to have a pleasant spring.
### Some Results
The keyboard works, not very well, but it works. While it would be possible to play with the code and wooden mechanics to make some slight improvements, it seems it would be wiser to make a more dramatic revision.
Some critical (if not obvious) observations:
- The keys are much too widely spaced. A tighter pitch would be needed for regular use.
- The whittled springs look very cool and rustic but it might be necessary to compromise between holistic and productive methods to make them a bit more predictable.
- It would be interesting to consider the musical roots of keyboards and to incorporate this.
- The code has several TODOs mostly related to key repeat and timing glitches. It's much too easy to mis-key the chords.
### Acknowledgements
It was very exciting to take such an uncanny idea and actually make it work. It's by no means a "daily driver" but this is not mere speculation or posturing. I am extremely motivated to keep revising and working in this direction. It was a tremendous pleasure to collaborate and discuss with everyone in Brussels and I also thank those associated with a wider Permacomputing scene for encouragement and feedback.
