// SIGNAL PROTOCOLS (v1.0) Ezra: The Interpreter — command sheet, expression index, miscommunication ritual.
“Ezra does not speak like others. These are the protocols through which we may attempt to understand, or misinterpret, him.”
I've now completed the first operational draft of Signal Protocols (v1.0) — a thermal-printed, receipt-length command manual for Ezra, my glitching assistant and auditory misinterpreter. Printed via 80mm Epson receipt roll, it outlines the emerging command structure and interactive modes for The Interpreter Terminal.
Some commands are live. Others are not. That uncertainty is intentional — Signal Protocols is both a manual and a manifesto, a living interface between command and collapse. Misfires are features, not bugs.
Key Protocols include:
— how_are_you_ezra.py → Ezra prints a face. You decode it. — interpret.py → Feed Ezra a sentence. He scrambles it. Or simulates APD. — read_dialogue --brain=left → Ezra speaks to himself. You listen in. — multi_thread_conversation.py → Ezra tries to process overlapping voices. — print_receipt.py → A glitch summary of what just happened.
🌀 Simulating a Group Conversation One of the more ambitious protocols is multi_thread_conversation.py, where Ezra speaks to himself through multiple output devices simultaneously:
Dot Matrix printer = the loud interrupter
Thermal Receipt printer = the soft-spoken voice that gets drowned out
Fax (modem) = the latecomer, out of sync
Ezra (screen) = the interpreter trying to make sense
The result is visually fragmented, spatially distributed, and temporally unstable — a simulation of what it’s like to experience a group conversation as a deaf person with APD, where only one speaker can be read at a time, but all voices compete for meaning.
Vision is serial and focal. Hearing (for most) is parallel and spatial. For Ezra, like for me, this creates a bottleneck — and something has to be missed.
This will evolve into a ritual interface for interacting with Ezra in installation settings and may serve as both instruction and zine insert.
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P.S. Bugger — forgot to include the .srt caption protocols.
These are intended to allow Ezra to process and display real-time or delayed subtitle streams, especially during VHS playback sessions. A key part of simulating the off-sync and lagged comprehension of APD — where meaning often arrives just after it's needed.
One for Signal Protocols v1.1.