Introduction

This software application records performance time of written text and vehicles it as additional information: saves and reproduces every single action during the composition of a text, so that we can circulate an additional dimension of emphasis in written communication.

As this simple concept, our implementation is also kept very minimalistic while we welcome programmers to embed it in communication applications, as in emails, blogs, visual poetry, wiki websites, slides, to embed emotions in plain text and open new practices for literature and poetry.

A reference C/C++ implementation with a manual page was initially released as a command line interface for this software. Nowadays several implementations of TBT are available, from a dokuwiki plugin to a python-GTK graphical interface, a pure javascript implementation and a PHP class.

How TBT does it

This software is written in thread-safe POSIX C++ and can be ported to most platforms, it provides a real-time recorder for serial timed data, recording 64bit tuples key/msec with low-latency. Included are programs providing a text console interface for the user to experiment with the keyboard.

TBT is made to vehicle more human-input information in written text

In the .tbt format, text is saved with a timestamp for each letter:

     _________ ___________
    |  u-int  |   u-int   |
    |  64bit  |   64bit   |    m-seconds = 1/1000 of a second
     --------- -----------
    |  char   | m-seconds |    char = ASCII or higher bit char code
     --------- -----------
    |    Total: 128bit    |
     ---------------------

Export functionality to different formats is provided, including generation of web-ready code in HTML and Javascript.

Artworks

Sister0 uses TBT as an instrument in live poetry and theater performances.

Michael Petchkovsky has composed TBT poetry visible on his website.

Downloads

For licensing information see the GNU General Public License.

Below a list of formats you can download this application: ready to be run with some of the interfaces developed, as a library you can use to build your own application and as source code you can study.

Source code

Latest stable release is 1.0 (22 March 2009) more about it in the NEWS and ChangeLog.

Source releases are checked and signed by Jaromil using GnuPG.

On ftp.dyne.org/tbt you find all present and past TBT releases, source code for extra plugins and more binaries that we occasionally build for various architectures.

The bleeding edge version is developed on our code repository using GIT, you can clone the repository free and anonymously

       git clone git://code.dyne.org/tbt.git

please use this version when reporting bugs and getting in contact with us.

Apple Darwin/OSX 10.5 / 10.6

A binary ready to use is available on ftp.dyne.org/tbt/binaries

When run will create .html files in your Desktop, copy the .js in the same dir and open the file to see your TBT text in a web-page.

Winslows

If you are looking for a winslows version, boot dyne:bolic GNU/Linux!

Credits

Time Based Text is a software.art application developed by Jaromil and conceptualised with the contribution of JoDi.

Some of the theoretical background of TBT is documented in this interview published on nettime; this software is not just a technical realization, it constitutes an interactive (on-site) art installation by its author Jaromil, exhibited for the first time in SPEAK OUT LOUD at NIMk in Amsterdam and permanently included in the runme software art collection.

Contributors

Development of TBT was supported by Impakt.nl.

The TBT CMS was designed by O.K. Parking and its PHP code written by Angelo “Pallotron” Failla.

Pablo “Caedes” Martines contributed the Python-GTK graphical interface implementation for GNU/Linux and Robin Gareus published a TBT dokuwiki plugin.

Meinhard Benn implemented a TBT recorder in pure javascript and Andrea “Alpt” Lo Pumo shared code perfectionements and suggestions, while Xantar Majere helped bundling the Apple/OSX ported version of TBT.

Additional thanks for their active support and appreciation go to: Florian Cramer, Annet Dekker, Paul Hendriks and Susanne Jaschko