The Intervention

The next part of this module is entitled the Intervention. The brief for this project is to:

'make an intervention in the context of your site. This may extend the first terms project, manifest itself as a physical intervention, a virtual construction, performance...'

In order to work out the possibilities for this project I begun by producing a mind map of different ideas and concepts including the examples that we have been given during the lectures on this topic.

After working through these ideas, and considering the information previously collected when investigating the site, I have decided that the best step to take first is to play a sound back into the site and see whether this changes the way people act within the site. In particular the sound model made in the previous section would be good to play back into the site as it is directly linked to the location and the people and so any results from this would be more relevant. Once this has been carried out it will be easier to develop the idea and make it a more interesting and effective intervention.

The Soundscape Model

This post is the final post of the first section of Strategies for Art and Technology. For the project we were asked to find a site in Plymouth and then collect data from it, which could then be turned into a model of the site. The steps taken to do this have been shown in the posts below. The link below is to the soundscape of our site which is the model that we have produced using the data that we collected. To hear this file please select the download now link then select open on the dialog box.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/izjyqoznzcz/Idat101-audio.wav
The following is a powerpoint presentation on the key points of the production of this model and what it represents:

The next stage of the module is to use the ideas and data we have collected to make an intervention in the context provided by the site, be it physical or virtual. By constructing the site model and other elements, this gives a basis from which to work on this next project.

Separated data graphs

In order for our site data to be turned into a soundscape the data on the graphs needed to be separated into each of its area components. This allowed the information on the graphs to be read more easily and therefore converted into sound. This post is to show these separated graphs so that you, the reader, can also get a better idea of what the data is showing. Firstly, below is an image showing how the site has been split up into the separate areas which the data is based on:

By separating the site up in this way the data could be collected for each part allowing the frequency of people in the area over time to be studied more specifically. The graph in the previous post shows the data for all of these areas together. However to be able to model the data the information had to be separated back out into the individual squares as above. The graphs that were produced are shown below:

The aim now is to use these graphs to change the data into a soundscape. The peaks and troughs of these graphs will be used to define different elements of the sounds, for example the pitch may be high on a peak then drop to a low pitch in a trough. The general outline of these graphs will also make this easier as more generalised curves can be produced from these to highlight key areas of change. This can then be used to make the soundscape.

Starting the Model

Over the last week me and my site partner have been working on designing and creating a model of our site to represent some of the data that we have accumulated over the term about our site. We discussed a number of different solutions based on the types of data that we had available and decided our key focus was to do with the number of people moving through the site at particular times, as well as possible their flow through the area. We then used our workbooks to come up with some way of presenting this. We both agreed than an animation over time was the kind of model we wanted to produce and so began to design this using our workbooks as inspiration. We eventually came up with an idea inspired by the cubist representation of movement through the area that I drew in my workbook shown in a previous post. We used this to create a simpler outline of the site which was split into 5 rectangles.
We then discussed how we could animate this design and realised we could use our tallied data of the number of people in the site at a particular time to manipulate the rectangles. However we then realised that the data we had would have to be reformatted to match with our design. We therefore shared all the data we had and between us entered the data into a table that formatted the data accordingly. Once the data had been written we then produced a graph of it to give a better and more generalised view of the changes in the number of people over time. The graph is as follows:

However after showing and discussing this approach with our lecturer, we realised that the idea and the data did not really match up with each other very well. Therefore the next step is to reconsider how we could represent this data. We are currently looking for possible ways to change this data into sound which is one way which would be good to display it as well as considering other possibilities.

Movement Maps

After mentioning in my last post about how I had been mapping human movement through the site, it occurred to me that none of these maps have actually been included so far in this blog. This post is therefore to show a couple of the movement maps that I have created so far to demonstrate the paths that people take through the site. The first map I created was a path map that literally mapped the paths taken by people moving through the area. One of these maps looks like this:

This helps to show the more popular paths along which people travel. The image in the bottom right corner of this image is not particularly relevant to the image, as I added it to remind me of another event that occurred. I have been adding to this image every time I go to the site when people take more interesting and individual paths that I havent yet mapped. However most people follow those already shown. Another map I did to show this in a different way is the following map:

This map shows the same information but using block colour rather than lines. I chose to draw this as the site can easily be split up into rectangular and square sections as it is a relatively square area, and so I felt this was a suitable way of displaying the flow of people through the area. However this scanned image is not as easy to read as the original image as the different colours are harder to identify. The red areas are the areas used most, the orange covers areas used slightly less than this and the green areas cover areas where people socialise rather than walk through. There are also blue coloured areas which show areas used by transport and brown areas showing areas used even less than those already listed, but these are quite difficult to identify by this image.

These two maps show similar results and so it occurred to me that I could use Photoshop to overlay the images, which would merge the two ways of mapping the data enhancing the readings of both. The result of this is shown below:

By adding the paths to the coloured blocks this helps to show the different uses of the area and enables a better understanding overall of the flow of people through the area. I feel that the flow of people through the area is probably the main focus of this study and so the next step will be to continue investigating this in different circumstances and different ways. This will then eventually be collated to help make the model for this project.

More site work

This week me and my site buddy went to our site to continue collecting a much data as possible about the area. During the hour and a half we spent there I collected a variety of different pieces of information, in terms if objects within the site, peoples movements and also the layout of the site in general. In particular I did a drawing using a technique derived from a practicle that our group had with our lecturer. This technique was to draw what I saw, but without looking so that an abstracted image of what I was seeing was produced. I decided to use this technique on the levels that I was able to observe from the centre of our site. The image I produced is below:

The majority of this drawing has been done by drawing shapes without looking, but there are also areas which I chose to draw whilst looking to create a coherent image. I based my choice of this on the importance of the section of the view and also how regimented the shapes were. For example the cobbles at the bottom of the image are all the same shape so I drew them whilst looking, unlike the stones which build the walls of each level as these are all different shapes and so I drew them individually without looking. The circular rails I also drew whilst looking as getting the circles in the right places was important to the image, whereas the outline of the the levels and the jagged stones at the top of each wall were more abstract and so I chose to draw them without looking. Anyway the end result I acheived was as above.

The blue line shown on this image is, rather strangely, the path of a pigeon as it looked for food on the floor. I chose to sketch this down as I have been mapping the paths taken by humans in the site, but have not compared this to the use of the area by other animals. Humans are very calculated about how they find a path through an area, often resorting to the easiest or quickest route through the area. However animals such as pigeons are much more erratic in their choice of path and carry a completely different agenda for their being there. I thought this may be an interesting aspect to look at as it is not only humans who use the area, and I may be able to use this comparison later on.

Scanned Collage

This post is to show the image which I previously mentioned which tries to give a 360 degree impression of the site, and is documented in my workbook. The centre of the image has pictures of the centre of the site and the images around the edge are arranged in terms of their position in relation to the perspective I had when I was there.