The BIGRedButton site is finished. The mobile downloads are available from http://www.big-red-button.co.uk/mobile from any internet enabled mobile device.

By jove it works! Finally got my button working, standalone, and logging data into the database. Power was the major issue with the button as I needed something that gave out over 5v and 600mA that was portable enough. The answer came from an old digital camera battery which gave out the same kind of power as my mains adapter! While testing I had it running for 2 days straight, sending messages every 10mins or so without any problems! Fantastic!

After many different ways of tackling this project…I have settled on a final schematic. This is how it works:

Both the mobile J2ME apps. and the physical button device send SMS messages to an AQL account which outputs the data as HTTP post to PHP scripts on my server. This then checks the existing keywords, creates a new table or adds the data to an existing one and posts the data to the database. Then the script reads the given database table and creates the XML feed which is updated everytime a new keyword is sent…simple? Well that’s how it works.

Haven’t had much time to work on the project this last week as my thesis was handed in yesterday but I’ve done some initial testing with the module…managed to get it to power up using code rather than the provided ‘on’ switch and then send a SMS message to my phone and power back down again. From here I have to adapt the code to power up the perform the SMS message on a button press which shouldn’t be too hard. I’m having some power issues though as all the batteries I have been testing with don’t give out enough current for the module to power up.

I have also been looking at my initial PHP scripts to log the data. I have made changes to the way in which they store the data in the database by writing a new table for each new keyword that is logged…this way I can easily provide separate live XML feeds for each dataset. I have also started writing PHP to dynamically create and update the XML feeds.

The website design is on its way aswell…i’ll post updates on the website when its done.

Ok so I finally have all the all the bits I need for my project. In a blue peter stylee…To make a Big Red Button you will need:

An Arduino Decimilia board
A Libelium GPRS/GPS board for arduino
A GSM antenna with a MMCX connector
An Orange pay-as-you-go sim card (with free SMS)
10m of standard multicore electrical wire (probably only going to use 1m!)
An ultra miniture toggle switch
A standard DC power plug
A sub miniature Push-to-Make button
Moeller foot and palm emergency cut off switch

I finally found the button I want! I spotted this button on the side of a bin lorry of all places…I found out, via the wonder of google, the make of the buttons they use on said bin lorries and then through the wonder of ebay, found this particular button for £20 inc. postage…billy bargain! Its perfect, its just the right size inside to fit my arduino and GPRS boards in…just needs a bit of hacking to remove the original internals.

Today I recieved my GPRS module…had to wait over the easter break to get my hands on it…but I can finally start playing with it. I’ve been reading some documents on how to work the thing…apparently is uses specific “AT commands” to perform the various tasks. There isn’t much documentation on it or how to use it with Arduino so it might be a bit of a learning curve.

UrbanXML was one of my first references for this project. Run by Wilfried Hou Je Bek, its aim is to release publicly derived data as a machine readable resource. In a blog entry on his website socialfiction.org, Hou Je Bek argues that

“…all data collected in/about public space should be made freely available in machine-readable open formats. Much of this data will be produced by us anyway, without our consent, and therefore it should belong in the public domain.”

This brilliantly describes what I am trying to get at with my project. I want it to be a vehicle for which data can be released, giving the public the choice to release the data as well as producing it. Unlike many other complex systems I have always wanted it to be a simple system for the simple data, the fuzzy banal stuff that is rarely released and appreciated in the same way.

Its been a while…but a lot has happened. Few the last few weeks I’ve sorted web space for the site (big-red-button.co.uk - nothing is there just yet!) and I’ve got a prototype mobile version of the button working with the sms service and the database on my server. I’m pleased with the progress but there is so much more to do! My GPRS/GPS device for my arduino board should be winging its way to me from friday (ordered it from Libelium Comunicaciones in Spain and its not in stock until the 14th march!) so for now the Arduino device is on hold…but hopefully my mobile prototype can be easily ported to Arduino. In the mean time I have been looking into the form of the BRB. I have found the perfect housing for it…although I need to find out if it will be suitable technically (as it is an emergency stop switch for machinary…saw one on the back of a bin lorry!). I found a supplier here (its the bottom image). There are also plans for another Arduino version of the device that stores the data on the board rather than transmitting it, this is a contingency plan in case there are hiccups with the GPRS version.

I am also taking part in ‘The Seven Wonders of the World’ project open day at the university where I am pitching my project to a number of south west digital and creative companies tomorrow. So hopefully I will get some useful feedback on the concept etc. and also earn some brownie points in the process! It all go!

I had my midway assessment for my project this afternoon. I did a quick 5min presentation to Geoff Cox (who is also my dissertation tutor). It was encouraging to get another tutors opinion on my work. He suggested that I think of situations in which this project could be placed and how I would use it. Below is a slide from the presentation that outlines the project.