Methods of investigating

Methods of investigating

Observing

Community (Mapping)

I found that the area around the canal is a very prosperous area with many communities, such as shopping areas, residential areas, subway and train stations, and campuses.

Boat Culture (Photography)

There are many boats on the canal. Some are unoccupied, some are occupied, some are used for shops, some are used for transportation, etc. I am curious about their boat culture, why they are here, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of this place.

Ripples (recording)

I observed that the water in the canal is always accompanied by a large number of ripples, which looks very beautiful and is constantly changing due to the influence of wind, rain, human and animal behavior.

I further recorded their voices.

I recorded a lot of videos and the sounds of the time, including human activities, natural environment, animals, etc.

Similarities （sound waves and ripples)

• Waveform Shape （Peaks and valleys)
• Propagation (Outward)

Compare the sound changes in various scenarios

Extracting patterns from observation photos

A preliminary attempt to visually combine water ripples and sound waves

Inspired by Fredrik Skåtar’s interactive installation, I aimed to create a visualization that visualizes sound in an environment and combines it with water ripples.

Further development attempts to combine sound waves and water ripples visualization

I tried new things with each of the visuals I developed last week. The pattern based on the beautiful water ripples in the scene was not developed mainly because it had nothing to do with the human activities that I wanted to study initially, and was just a pure natural phenomenon.

An attempt to make water waves and sound waves move together

Then you can find that my focus in the final stage was not on human behavior. First of all, I did not encounter more people doing activities on the canal when I went to investigate again, which led to the limitations of my research. So my focus was more on combining the sound waves and water ripples at that time.

The visual visualization of the water ripples formed by the moving ship and the sound of the environment at that time is combined with sound waves

I have already shown the changes in sound intensity through the visual visualization of sound waves, so the volume record next to it is unnecessary and has been deleted.

The water ripples and the people passing by are represented by different ripples respectively, and we try to interact with them.

When the two ships cross each other, the ripples brought by the two ships are combined with the sounds of the environment at that time to observe the interactive reaction.

I focused on the visual and auditory relationship between sound waves and water ripples. My final video combines sound waves and water ripples to show the dynamic presence of sound in space.

However, due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to explore more visual aspects. The interaction between sound and water wasn’t developed as thoroughly as I had hoped, and while I identified some interesting visual patterns, my technical skills required more learning, which limited my ability to further experiment. Thus, the final video remains relatively straightforward. If I had more time, I would have refined the video with more intricate animations, such as blending waveforms. And try more interesting visual presentation methods.

Final presentation feedback

• The link between sound waves and water ripples wasn’t strong enough in your project. I could focus more on visually representing how these two elements interact, making the connection clearer and more compelling.
• The initial theme of humans and nature became muddled, as it shifted toward a focus on sound in space.
• The animations combining sound and waveforms weren’t detailed enough. Investing more time in creating refined, high-quality visuals would have strengthened the presentation.

WRITTEN RESPONSE