The Spin Diaries: Your Guide to Everything Pole and Aerial

So I’m taking this emerging media platforms class and it’s all about incorporating cutting edge technology into reporting and telling stories (being that my study track is “journalism”).

My final assignment (omg I’m so close to being done with school I CAN TASTE IT you guys), is to pick a technology and try out a new way of ~doing journalism~ with it.

This is a tall order because so far we’ve studied:

1. drones
2. 3d
3. 360 video
4. sensors
5. something else I’m probably not remembering because I’m really outta my element here

Frankly, I’m not that interested in any of these things. But sensors caught my eye. Did you know there are stores for different kind of sensors that measure different things that you can buy and use???

Actually this is not quite true, but more on that in a minute. (Note: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is).

Anyway, I found a MUSCLE SENSOR that measures muscle movements, yo!

(PS. Sorry for the “yos,” I’m watching Breaking Bad again. #jesse #bitch)

I immediately got excited about this because of POLE. (one track mind y’all, my classmates are fed up with my ass, I swear).

I thought: what if you could measure shoulder and grip effort in different grip patterns? This is mainly because I’m keenly aware of all these twisted grip controversies and was wondering if there was an objectively way of measuring words we tend to just throw around like “dangerous” and “difficult.”

Is twisted grip dangerous because it requires more strength than some of us objectively have? It it actually safer because it requires less hand strength to hold, and is therefore more suitable to beginners with very little grip training?

I set out to answer these questions in my field test, and wow, did I underestimate how hard this was going to be.

First of all, sensors, LOL, they do nothing alone. You have to build a mother fucking circuit you guys.

I’m really pressed for time because I’m working full time and taking another class, so this is me soldering in my night gown on a Saturday morning because this is my life lately.

PS. I HAD TO LEARN TO SOLDER FOR THIS CLASS, ARE YOU F***ING KIDDING ME.

This was definitely an all day thing so we pumped some jams. I woke up just feeling like I needed to hear “Magic Stick,” so I made a Magic Stick playlist. This came on. Soldering was LIT:

Anyway, after several hours of watching YouTube tutorial videos on things like wire stripping and solder bridge removal, I realized this field test was just not going to work.

For one thing, the numbers streaming in (just… numbers, like 42, 86, 90) weren’t really showing any discernible patterns, even as I flexed a muscle. At first I attributed this to poor soldering, and spent another $34 on a new sensor and resoldered that shit. But on testing this new one, it became clear to me that the slightest motion of the wires (draped on a table as I tested the sensor) was skewing my results, big time.

Proooooobably safe to say that that my idea of strapping this on and trying out pole grips is now doomed, but, I’m going to try it this weekend anyway and see what happens.

Soldering/breathing fumes into the night:

So what do you guys think of this idea?

If I get better at soldering and MyoWare makes a much less motion sensitive and accurate muscle sensor, would this information be useful?

Would you read a story about the muscle output for different poses on the pole, or be into a new system of categorization for pole moves using this info?

I could definitely see this being useful to people working with injuries. Knowing that one grip puts a lot more strain on a bum shoulder than another could be very useful. But that’s just me.

Feedback please!

Say something interesting and I might quote you in my final presentation on this ;D

XOXO