murmur
project categories:
Murmur is a multi-modal ambient display and listening machine as well as a test bed for reactive surfaces, control algorithms and matrices, and interaction contexts.
The construction ofMurmur was the focus of my Master's research project while in Georgia Tech's Digital Media program. The research paper produced turned into a conference paper for TEI 2007 and is published in the ACM digital library. Support for the project came from Ali Mazalek, my adviser and her XMedia Lab and XMedia class, notably Ozge Samanci and Ayoka Chinzera who where invaluable in the early construction phase, in editing the research paper, and continued moral support.
[concept]
Murmur functions as a sculptural art object, test-bed for reactive surfaces, interactive installation, and ambient display. It consists of a custom-built control circuit for a fan array and is constructed to support a variety of reactive surfaces in order to take full advantage of the expressive affordances of the fans such as air pressure, sound and movement. The modular setup also allows for various interactions with its environment, through the ability to easily switch out control circuits and easily reprogram the wiring board. The current setup aggregates environmental sound data and expresses it through directional waves of various sizes.
[process]
Phase 1 consisted mostly of drawings, discussions about interaction contexts, format considerations, and possible construction methods and materials. Much time was spent considering the expressive possibilities of the CPU cooling fan, something I've long been interested in.
Phase 2 consisted of research into fan control, electronic components, considerations of various kinds of control circuits, small scale circuit testing, and lots and lots of trips to the local electronics supply store (ACK Electronics) and campus bookstore to flip through electrical engineering text books. The best resources found at this time where:
The Art of Electronics -Horowitz and Hill
Physical Computing -Tom Igoe and Dan Sullivan
Bebop to the Boolean Boogie -Clive Maxfield
Once I embraced digital circuitry and gave up the fantasy of an all analog system (waaaay beyond my reach at the time) things started to fall into place, and there was less smoke in the lab. Around this time I decided to go with a 5 by 20 format for a total of 100 fans.
Phase 3:
