chrisblunt.com

Today’s meeting with Frances has helped me in consolidating the requirements - and intended outcome - of my transience2 project. Drawing reference to projects such as Jambo, pindices and the blur building, I shall be representing users not only by avatar, but by a colour indicating social preferences. The representation of a user on the social map will be determined by how well these preferences match those of other users’.

Each transience2 user will also have a physical avatar. These will be a sequence of vibration patterns that can be sent to other users. When historically mapped users appear, they will be touched by these patterns to indicate a social connection. If the connection is verified, users can then exchange (avatar) details.

Technically, the project is progressing quite well. Avatar details are transmitted between users, and a social map is formed by surrounding connections. The next stage will be to implement vibration patterns and allow these to be transmitted across devices.

As development of transience2 continues, I am also using the framework to further develop my final project, toupix. That project is now working as a technical prototype and I hope to be announcing the early beta test within the next couple of weeks.

Despite the theory, it seems the video tracking isn’t a particularly ‘hi-def’ way of getting input. Despite the (technical) use of a magnifying glass to give good focus at short distance, the input from the video is still rather unpredictable, resulting in often random sets of data that ruin any form of interaction.

Due to this, I am planning to return to the original use of an analogue controller device as a means of input. Using this will enable me more clarity on the received inputs and thus allow for a finer-tuned set of inter-reactions for the mood fountains.

I shall also be looking into building an array of LEDs to be controlled by the iCube to allow for the mood fountain’s visual appearance to reflect its moods.

The study of soundscapes is about the experiences of sound, in contrast to the physical properties of sounds. It is about “Ear-mindedness” [10] and conscious awareness of the sounds that surround us. The first-person perspective and personal experience are central, making this approach essentially phenomenological. Ecology, on the other hand, is about the interaction between living plants or animals and their environment (including other plants and animals).

This quote interestingly references my project in a direct manner. Through the human interaction with the fountain, I aim to form a sound scape that encourages (or discourages, depending on the action) further interaction. The environmental effect of the user thus becomes and environmental effect on that user, in a feedback loop that forms within the space.

Redstrom goes on to point out that ‘how we interact with our environment and how we experience it are intimately related’. As my project will attempt to create a feedback loop of interaction, it must be ensured that a (potential) user is encouraged to participate in that interaction, and create the loop. When many users exist in the space, multiple connected interactions may form leading to a cumulative effect on the sound scape.

This morning was spent building a prototype for the Mood Fountain, and sorting out some basic logic so that the controller works. The logic is based (although far from comprehensive, or complete) on simple AI logic from last years AI module. I have composed a simple data-class to represent the fountain in logic, which takes input from the motion data and outputs its effects as OSC data.

The OSC data is then picked up by PD and converted to MIDI signals. These signals will then be used to control Live’s output.

Now that the technology is proven, I shall be researching the effects of sound on people in order that the environment will invoke some reaction in its inhabitants.

Further looking into the mood fountain idea below has brought up some areas of interest. Based also on today’s space lecture (Hearing Spaces), I shall look into exploring the acoustic connotations associated with the mood fountains.

Mainstream ‘mood’ environmental affectors (to use the idea that coloured light is a prime affector of mood) such as Mood-Light, rely on visual cues to evoke a sense of mood or change of mood. Users conciously invoke effects on their own mood by changing the colour of the light.

While visual cues are important to today’s visually biassed environment, this type of mood ‘toy’ represents a static, non-reactive entity designed to affect the participant. My intention is that the mood fountain should reverse this concept, such that a mood fountains tends to be proactive, forming its own ‘moods’ through the interaction between participant and fountain.

The user, then, becomes the mood-toy, and the fountain the participant in creating an acoustic moodscape. By employing some simple AI logic into the mood fountain, the participant’s actions can potentially be coerced into creating a specific interaction and thus affect the state of each mood fountain. By primarily focussing on audio rather than visual cues, I hope to create a delicate, immersive soundscape that encourages a relaxed interaction.