3.05 min.
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For context, see:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scottthrift/the-present
http://diskclock.com
Music by Scrap Heap:
http://www.archive.org/details/fixture
http://www.archive.org/details/ascent
Greetings, Scott Thrift.
Good full moon to you.
I have always been confused by by time.
Digital is precise, but leaves you feeling lost.
You have to think about what the numbers mean.
Still, I always used digital because the analog clocks confused me even more.
Is the hour the long hand or the short?
I can reason it out, but it still makes me think.
Don't even get me started on twelve hours.
When 'seven' could mean either breakfast or dinner,
it seems like a tool for confusion rather than clarity.
But that's one of the things about creation.
Building your own clock allows you understand the ways that clocks are designed at a much deeper level than most people ever experience.
A few years ago I set out to try and solve the problem.
Instead of a hand hanging in space, what if the whole face moved?
Could we go beyond days - to weeks, months, and years?
Are color and image enough to make to it intuitive?
Certainly there have been a lot of false starts.
But working with software gives incredible freedom.
Instead of a fixed clock face, it becomes possible
to reimagine time in myriad ways,
show accurate daylight throughout the year,
or adjust to whatever size is required.
Disk Clock started out as a short project,
just for the sake of building something.
I figured that a Dashboard widget would be easy.
In fact it's turned into a rabbit hole.
I've learned about JavaScript, modularity,
and a wonderous array of unusual clocks and calendars.
Rather than a short project, it's turned into a multi-year adventure,
making the leap to Chrome and eventually other browsers.
The adventure hasn't been without gaps.
It's easy to get discouraged when nobody seems to notice your work.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm just some crazy guy, alone in the world.
Is there anybody out there thinking the same things?
So, Scott Thrift, I have two questions for you.
Do you like anything you've seen here? And,
Would you be at all interested in a digital Present?
Tags: Clock Time
