Screen-based
clocks are clocks that are viewed on a screen or monitor and have no physical
presence. There are two typed of screen-based clocks that I am interested in.
The first I call Graphic Clocks though Programmed or Code Clocks might be
better names. These are clocks that are drawn on the fly by code. Your digital
wristwatch is essentially that. I designed a set of graphic clocks that my
brother programmed in Java to run as an Android phone. The Graphic Clocks video
shows these and others I’ve designed and animated.
The
second type I call Video Clocks. These employ videos to show the time. I find
this type especially fascinating. The Screen-Based Clocks Tour video (made in
early 2019) shows some of the different possibilities for showing the time with
videos. My new website TheVideoClock.com now runs video clocks that actually do show
the time. This is where I add new videos as I create them. I’ve added over 100
minutes since the Tour video.
I distinguish two different types of video clocks. The first is a straightforward rendering of the time. This is done by showing an analog or digital clock, or at least showing the hour and minute. The second, which I call Conceptual (or Referential), shows the time by referencing continuums or cycles. The World Clock is an example of this. It ascribes 6 degrees of longitude to each minute of the hour. Minutes are determined by counting 6 degree segments west of the prime meridian. Tikal is 14 segments west of the prime meridian. So showing video of Tikal represents minute 14. This system only represents minutes. I add the hour to the upper left corner of the video. Using longitude can also be applied to the United States by ascribing 1 minute to each degree of longitude west of the eastern most point of the continental USA. Movies can be broken into 60 segments to represent minutes. Similarly the color wheel can be used as a representation of an hour. For the Hawaii clock I superimposed a distorted analog clock over the Big Island of Hawaii to represent 60 minutes. There are lots of other possibilities for this type of clock. However, recently I've been more focused on the first type of video clock.
