SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The general set up of BlogWall requires a high-end computer with a good graphics card, projector and a screen. Dedicated GSM/GPRS modem is used to receive SMS messages. The user stands in front of the projector screen and sends a SMS to a given number. The application issues AT commands to the modem to locate SMS. All the messages received by the server will be written to a log file along with originator phone number and the date/time. The application consists of several modes of operation. Based on the enabled modes it offers different services to the user.
DISPLAY MODES
Standard Display Mode
If the application is in the standard display mode, it will immediately display the text message in an animated way. When the system receives the SMS it selects a random animation for the SMS as shown in Figure 3. The system shows several animations in the background such as flying butterflies.
Polling Mode
The polling function is used to collect user opinions. The system displays polling question and available answers. The answers are indexed by single alphabetical letter with in parenthesis. To select an option user SMS appropriate letter to the system. System also has the capability to provide statistical data to system administrators.
Keyword Triggering Mode
Keyword triggering mode enables the application to trigger an internal function based on a word in the SMS. This feature is somewhat similar to the features found in popular chat programs like Windows Messenger. For example if the SMS contains word “love" the application may replace the word “love” with an image of a heart. The keyword triggering mode also can display a small verse based on the words found in the SMS. The images as well as verses are selected from an internal database.
Poetry Mode
The most prominent feature of the application is its ability to create poetry. In the poetry mode users SMS is analyzed to identify most prominent words. Those words are posted to a free dictionary website. The website will generate the synonyms related to the posted words and the system finds them by analyzing the HTML response of the website. The synonyms are used to rank poems and poetry lines in an internal database. The database consists of lines of poetry and keywords related to each line and poem. When the system administrator adds a new poem to the system all the keywords related to the poem and poem lines get generated and stored in separate table in the database.
The ranking of the poems is done based on the number of synonyms found in each poem. The poem that contains most number of synonyms gets the highest poem ranking. In the selected poem, the line that contains the highest number of synonyms gets the highest line ranking. Based on ranking most suitable poetry line will be selected to display.
For example if the user sends a SMS, “I love thunder and rain" the selected words would be love, thunder and rain. Some of the synonyms generated for word “love" may be passion, dearest, loved one. Based on the poem and line ranking system might select the line “A heart whose love is innocent!" from the poem “She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron. Similarly two more lines of poetry will be selected based on the synonyms generated for words thunder and rain. So a possible out put of this SMS might be;
“A heart whose love is innocent!”
“Boom, boom, boom”,
“Rain from the clouds”.
This unique ranking system enables the system to borrow lines of poetry from different poets. Therefore the finial outcome of the system is unusual as well as surprising.
Due to the flexible nature of BlogWall it can be extended to different cultures. Currently, the application has been extended to Korean, Japanese, and Chinese poems. Each language mode has a database of poems with their English meaning. The synonyms are used to rank English meaning of the poems similar to standard poetry mode. Highest ranked English meaning poetry line would yield the original language poetry line. For the same SMS “I love thunder and rain" Korean database may generate the following poem;
사랑하는 사람이 생겼습니다
맑은 하늘에 번개가 치다
비오는 날 우체국에 가다
The Japanese poetry database contains Japanese haikus. So the SMS may generate following poem;
悲恋をるると
春雷ざわざわ
雨ぽつぽつ
Similarly the Chinese poem might be;
结发为夫妻，恩爱两不疑
巫峡中宵动，沧江十月雷
水光潋艳晴方好,山色空蒙雨亦奇。
The system displays the original SMS, English meaning of the poem and the original language poetry on the display screen. Through the generation of poetry, we aim to create another step in the promotion of cultural computing.
