Sonification – Week 7 – Sk8er Bois

Following feedback from the research and discovery report, the group discussed the two leading concepts and made a decision on which to pursue for the project. Interested in the concept of sonification, Team 14 decided to develop Tempo x Velocity. With more opportunity for further research and analysis of user motions we felt the concept had more depth. Although also interesting, the LED High Striker concept required significant fabrication which would be tight on the scheduled deadline. Additionally, we revised the project statement to emphasise the focus on the skater:

To create a motion-based interactive design that encourages playful creativity and exploration of public space by the skater.

(IMAGE: http://open-shelf.ca/160201-data-sonification/)

Sonification is described as the use of non-speech audio to convey information or perceptualize data (Kramer, 1994). For our project, the skater’s motion is tracked via an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and certain data parameters mapped to produce representative audio outputs through a wearable speaker. The essence, the sound of skater movement data. The idea being that skaters can listen to their action, creating attentiveness through auditory perception of their performance. The user will be skating ‘to the beat of his/her own drum’.

At a glance, build of the concept seems very straight forward:

Input – IMU via mobile phone
Controller – Laptop on site running Max 7 and Ableton Live
Output – Bluetooth connected wearable speaker on skater

No fabrication of frames or structures, no Arduino required or potentially obstructive power cables running across the skatepark, etc. The skater has full freedom around the skatepark provided the bluetooth speaker and mobile phone (IMU) are within reach of the control device.

The next steps for the project are as follows: