Communication without language / Importance of Context with Data / Crowd Sourced Data  

Communicating without language

The initial direction of our concept was to create an artistic visualisation, which also represented Data. While this is still a direction we want to pursue, there was one particular issue that was raised in a number of meetings. This was, if it was possible for our proposed visualisation to communicate the data we intended, in an instinctual way that didn't need explaining. By this I mean, the observer would understand the data being conveyed, without a need for context or a prior explanation.

Wether this be instantaneously or after a few moments of thought, the idea was for everyone to be able to interpret what they were seeing. Through instinct alone, using something that's ingrained in all of us.

As much as this idea appeals to all of us, it became clear after a few weeks of deliberation and brainstorming how difficult this task may be. This set me off trying to find what all humans have in common with regards communication and is it possible to portray data purely through human nature and instinct, a sort of international language.

This led me onto a number of articles which described using different mediums to communicate ideas and messages. The most interesting of which was a system of communication developed by Ajit Narayanan for children with autism that had issues with language and speech. 

Ajit Narayan TED Talk

I also discovered a number of other articles that explored the idea of non verbal communication, using mediums such as body language an facial expression, some of which we may be able to utilise in our project.

http://neuroanthropology.net/2010/07/21/life-without-language/

http://www.littlethingsmatter.com/blog/2011/02/24/communication-without-words/

Context

This is an aspect i had not fully appreciated until i had done some research into the area. The importance of this cannot be understated with Data. Without context you are essentially staring at meaningless imagery, shapes, colours or whatever the medlium of expression may be. A quote from an article written by Natan Yau for the BIGTHINK encapsulates this perfectly

Without context, data is useless, and any visualization you create with it will also be useless. Using data without knowing anything about it, other than the values themselves, is like hearing an abridged quote secondhand and then citing it as a main discussion point in an essay. It might be okay, but you risk finding out later that the speaker meant the opposite of what you thought.

This describes perfectly why we cannot understate its importance, or else we are majorly neglecting a massive part of what we are trying to achieve with Data Art. This is why it is so crutial to find a way to communicate what we are trying to represent, with whatever it is we eventually create. The article from the bigthink and another article about the importance of context are posted below.

http://bigthink.com/experts-corner/understanding-data-context

http://www.qualitydigest.com/magazine/2009/apr/department/no-data-have-meaning-without-context.html

Crowd Sourced Data / Data Art

Since the beginning of the module, the main area the group has been most interested in is the idea of crowd sourced data.
we wanted to use Data about People in an area, and display that information to the people. I began researching about different methods of collecting Data and displaying it, and came across some very helpful and interesting articles.
My favourite of these were TED talks done by Aaron Koblin and Jer Thorp.
They gave me a more human and artistic outlook on data, and showed how it can be used to create some beautiful imagery while also portraying a message.

https://www.ted.com/talks/aaron_koblin?language=en#t-93545

https://www.ted.com/talks/jer_thorp_make_data_more_human

Watching these videos gave me a deeper appreciation for using data for artistic purposes. I began looking at other artists who had incorporated data into their work.
This article from theatlantic described how people in artistic fields have began using the flow and movement of people to create beautiful pieces of artwork.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/the-rise-of-the-data-artist/392399/

Using Text Data to Manipulate Images & Sound (pt. 1)

I was given the task of extracting text data from a .txt file or equivalent, and using code to manipulate it to create images or sounds. This would form a foundation for our project, as once we know how to convert data into non text-based forms, we can start manipulating all sorts of data to do a variety of things.

Here is a link to my website, showing a visual representation of random values extracted from a text file: http://dindins.web44.net/data%20stuff/test.php

When I started work on this task I was initially inclined to use JavaScript to extract the text-file contents, because JavaScript is used to read XML files etc. and is what I planned to use to create the onscreen images. After several attempts at this however, I discovered that JavaScript is not capable of accessing local files for security reasons. In the end I had to resort to using PHP, which meant this process would only work if the text file was uploaded to a server. In future I hope to find a way of achieving these same results, but using files that are located locally on the users machine.

Below is a screenshot of some of the code to show my process. This process can be summarized as follows:

•  I was able to access the text file on the server using PHP
• I then stored this text in a JavaScript variable as a string
• Next I used the 'split' method to separate the string into single numbers
• I then created an array which contained each of these values
• This array could then be randomized using a shuffle function

To create the visuals of this text I used JavaScript to write 'div' tags into the document. I used the knowledge I gained doing my previous weather data project to edit the colours of these divs depending on the random value from the text file assigned to them. Below is a screenshot of this code:

Here is an example of one arrangement of these values:

These values will randomize each time the page is refreshed.

One problem I encountered when making this is that I always seemed to get one value back that was 'undefined'. I can only assume that this issue lies with the way I wrote the 'for loop' but I am yet unsure. I hope to resolve this issue for later projects.

Data Visualisation Test

I decided to begin testing ways of acquiring usable data and how to use code to represent it as a graphic. Here is a link to a simple website I made with visualised data:

http://dindins.web44.net/weather/visualtest.php

The site consists of three red circles representing Cork Institute of Technology, University College Dublin, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The site reads the current temperature for each of these locations and adjusts the appearance of these circles accordingly. The higher the temperature, the larger the circles become, and the more saturated the colour becomes. Below is a screenshot of the site:

You can see that the circle for M.I.T. is the largest and most vibrantly coloured, which directly correlates to its high temperature. You can see the exact temperature figures in degrees celsius next to the place names.

 To do this I collected real-time weather data using The Dark Sky Weather Forecast API. Using php I input longitude and latitude coordinates from google maps to gather forecast data from. I then created containers whose style tags would adjust depending on the data. The current temperature for each of these location were stored in variables as numbers. I then manipulated these numbers by concatenating the variables with strings to correlate to the size (in pixels) of the containers and their RGB colour values. Below is a an example of the code that uses the temperature data variable to alter the style tag of a container:

Materials and Data Testing 1

I started to try and test out some stuff to start to get an idea of what we could achieve with this project and to get some hands on experience with some of the technologies and materials that we could potentially use. This would give us a better idea of what we are working with and what we would need to achieve the end goal of a kick ass project.

Arduino Test:

To start off i wanted to mess around with an Arduino to see what we could do with that in terms of gathering data and representing it. The idea i had for a basic data representation test was to try and use twitter hashtags as the data and have some kind of LED or censer react through the Arduino whenever a certain hashtag is used. The reason for this was that twitter hashtags is a basic from of live data that can be easily monitored and i wanted to see if i could get the Arduino reacting to live data. 

This test quickly fell apart after some research into how to get the Arduino to be able to read live data from the web. A wifi shield is necessary for the Arduino to be able to do this and i was not able to get one for the bases of this test. I was not able to run this test but i am looking more into getting Arduinos to read live web based data and it is something i will come back to.

Wifi Shield

After not being able to get an Arduino to read live web data, yet, i instead start to mess around with it, getting it to read live physical data, such as movement, and use that to trigger some sort of feedback.

What i did was created a basic system using a ultrasonic range detector, some LEDs and a buzzer, all connected to an Arduino and wrote a script that would read the distance that an object was away from the censor and the closer it came to the censor the LEDs would light up in a row and the buzzer would make a sound. The closer the object came the more LEDs would light up and the frequency of the noise would become higher.  

Arduino Setup

This basic test could be representative of something larger that we may plan to do in the future. being able to take live physical data like that, we could take things such as the movement of people on a street or the growth of a tree and represent that in something else like an art piece.

Video Demonstration

Materials Test: 

Non Newtonian Fluid

"A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid with properties that differ in any way from those ofNewtonian fluids. Most commonly, the viscosity (the measure of a fluid's ability to resist gradual deformation by shear or tensile stresses) of non-Newtonian fluids is dependent on shear rate or shear rate history."

To start testing out some materials that could be used for a data representation project i started to look into materials that can react and change depending on different things, the logic being that when the data changes so do the materials. with this in mind i remembered seeing a video online about non Newtonian Fluid and how it reacts when it is moved and vibrated, so i decided to have a go off it and see whats what.

I thought this would be a good place to start as it is easy to make very accsessable to anyone with acsess to a grocry store. To make it all that is needed is corn flour and water, and some food die if you are felling adventurius. Mixing alot of cornflour, a small bit of water and a few drops of food die and i had it made.

Ingredients

Once it was made and i had to consistency right, so that is was liquid while it was stationary and solidified when it was moving, i was able to test what would have when it was subjected to vibrations. 

Placing some cling film around a speaker i had at home i then found an online tone generator that would let me pick the frequency of noise that would play from the speaker, the lower it was the more the speaker would rattle and the more the fluid would be moved around. I poured the liquid onto the speaker and ran different frequencies through it to see what would happen.

Result:

I cant even describe how disappointing the result was. The fluid reacted somewhat to the vibration but not enough really to create anything from. I was expecting some made shapes to form up in front of me like you see in videos online but nothing really happend. Weather i did something not wrong when making it, i don't know but i can at least say that we can move on from that as i don't think it will work as a material for our project.

Data Visualisation, Infographics, and Art

I spent this week looking up various articles and websites in an attempt to discern the differences and similarities between these different formats.  The amount of information available is quite large, and so I have tried to condense these down so that we all have a decent understanding of the formats.  

There is much less information available on data art as it is quite subjective, but previous blog posts have actually covered some different installations and exhibitions of data art.

Data visualisation is viewed by many disciplines as a modern equivalent of visual communication, and is concerned with the visualisation of quantitative data in a way that it can be more easily understood.  It is not owned by any one field, but instead finds different interpretations across mulitple different fields.  It is extremely useful when trying to convey and make sense of large quantities of data.

"Data visualization is both an art and a science. The rate at which data is generated has increased, driven by an increasingly information-based economy. Data created by internet activity and an expanding number of sensors in the environment, such as satellites and traffic cameras, are referred to as "Big Data". Processing, analyzing and communicating this data present a variety of ethical and analytical challenges for data visualization"

This visualisation can be done in various ways across these different fields, from simple bar graphs, to intricate artistic interpretations, whilst still being considered to be under the umbrella of data visualisation. 

This leaves one to try and make the distinction between data art,  visualisation, and simple infographics.

"Infographics are generally created for the purpose of telling or explaining a specific story, and will usually be intended for a specific audience, thus Infographics are subjective. They are self contained and discrete: it is information presented with context; sensitivity designed and presented in a way that is accessible for an audience. The graphic design of an Infographic will be obvious; as it will be designed for that audience, or to fit in with a website or off-line publication's pre-existing style."

Last FM Top Artist Visualisation

Above is a visualisation/infographics of top artist plays from the music streaming website last.fm, from March 2008 to March 2014.  Both top artists and genres are displayed in a creative yet informative fashion.

Mouse Tracking Visualisation

Above is a representation of mouse movements on a screen across a day. Lines trace the path of the mouse across the screen, while circles represent idling time. The images reveal differences in each user's mousing behavior.  

- Popular Science Magazine, January 2015

Data Visualisations are far more likely to be generated automatically through the use of algorithms or computer programs. The process that is used to create them could be applied to another data set. 

They are likely to be presented without context.  The system of organising the data will perhaps be proprietary, and it is this system itself that becomes the interface that the data is accessed through. The data itself becomes its own architecture. The graphic design of it (in the sense of the look and the feel) will likely be deliberately less obvious, and take a back seat to the data itself.

Data Visualisation as Art

We have decided that a direction we want to explore is data visualisation in the form of art. Though we want the project to also use the data for some kind of practical function, this post is focusing on the art aspect only. Visualising data has become a popular art form, as it is a way of transcribing incomprehensibly complex data into a digestible form. "Human beings respond intuitively - and emotionally - to patterns" - these are the words of data artist Laurie Frick. More can be found on her art in this article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/the-rise-of-the-data-artist/392399/

This week I have been looking into past examples of data being used to create art. I intend to avoid visualisations that come in the form of static graphics, as these are less analogous to the kind of project we want to produce. In my personal opinion, static two-dimensional imagery is somewhat of a stagnant art form, and I feel that if we are to create a large scale project using big data, we should use a more ambitious medium. We hope to present the visualisation with some form of tangibility or 3D depth.

An example of an artist who visualises data is Nathalie Miebach. Nathalie uses weather data to form 3D art sculptures, with each segment of the sculpture directly corresponding to a piece of data. Here is an example a sculpture which was made using ocean related data such as buoy height readings, wind speeds, biological patterns, etc:

In one of her projects she also created accompanying music from the same data as a sculpture. This series is called 'Weather Scores'. Below is a video example:

'On Broadway' is an interactive project created by Dan Goddemeyer that compiles 13 miles of Manhattan imagery into one installation. The most obvious data sources which provide the photos are google street view and instagram, but as you explore the piece you'll find all kinds of other data in visualised form such as median household income or taxi stops. This is very relevant to our project, as it is likely we would be gathering data from a city-center area given the project brief.


ON BROADWAY from Moritz Stefaner on Vimeo.

Here's an example I found of translating one form of art into another: Audiolandscape. This uses the data of an uploaded mp3 file to generate a scrolling landscape, similar to a 3D waveform, but more visually appealling. Below is a link to the site:

http://dan.nea.me/audiolandscape/

Potential Project Materials

Continuing along with the idea of representing data taken from a city and having it represented in some form of art peace or installation i started to look at ways that the data could be represented and what types materials and installations we could gain some inspiration from




 Resonance:

Using gathered data to determine the pitch and tone that could be sent though the installation and salt or sand to represent the shapes this could be the bases for some form of data representation.



Type / Dynamics:

This is a pretty cool art peace done around data representation.

"the installation searches for real-time locations in the news, including "Ground Zero", "Reichstag”, or "Tiananmen Square”, from there locating images from Google Street View and turning them into grids filled with new information. Instead of a typical photo representation, the location is presented in purely typographically form. Visitors are then 'transported’ to that location by wrapping themselves in all the news of the area. Think of it like stepping into a Matrix that isn't part of a dystopian conspiracy"

Link : http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/in-amsterdam-new-typography-exhibit-lets-you-step-into-a-real-life-matrix

Nike Force of Nature:

This is not so much data representation but a cool way of movement bing tracked and represented using the connect.

"‘force of nature’ is a reflection of the running journey by applying different pattern and perspective forms that are influenced by the athlete to help him or her to run faster, stronger and farther."

Link: http://www.field.io/project/nike-force-of-nature/

eCLOUD:

This is a weather representation project in San Jose International Airport

"It is constructed from polycarbonate tiles that fade in between transparent and opaque states and are controlled by real time weather from NOAA from locations around the world. This data is used to create a simulation representing weather from any of the international locations by turning the individual tiles on and off in a certain pattern. The simulation is visualized within the cloud sculpture as well as on a dynamic display placed at eye level in the terminal."

Link: http://www.ecloudproject.com/

Living Light:

This project is placed in a public park in Seoul and was created with a skin of panels whose shape mimics the shape and districting of the city.  Every 15 minutes, the neighbourhood panels light up in order of best air quality to worst based on 27 real-time sensors provided by the Korean Ministry of Environment. Neighbourhoods are also illuminated if the air quality is better on that particular day than the same time last year and individuals can text message in to check pollution data and see their interaction show up on the map.

Link: http://www.livinglightseoul.net/index.htm



Immaterials:

This is a pretty unique project that a team from BERG have been working on. There idea is to try and get people to interact with everyday things people cant really see. Here they show how you can interact and visualise wifi.

Link: http://www.nearfield.org/

Listening Post:

Listening Post is an installation that pulls text fragments in real time from thousands of chat rooms, bulletin boards and other public forums online. The text is then displayed across a suspended grid of screens and sung or spoken by a voice synthesizer. The art is "a visual and sonic response to the content, magnitude, and immediacy of virtual communication."

Link: http://earstudio.com/