The quiet walk: sonic memories and mobile cartography

Alessandro Altavilla*, Atau Tanaka

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This paper presents The Quiet Walk, an interactive mobile artwork for sonic explorations of urban space. The goal of TQW is to find the “quietest place”. An interface on the mobile device directs the user to avoid noisy areas of the city, giving directions to find quiet zones. Data collected by the system generates a geo-acoustic map of the city that facilitates the personal recollection of sonic memories. The system is comprised of 3 components: a smartphone running a custom application based on libpd and openFrameworks, a web server collecting the GPS and acoustical data, and computer in an exhibition space displaying a visualisation of the sound map. This openended platform opens up possibilities of mobile digital signal processing, not only for sound art related artworks but also as a platform for data-soundscape compositions and mobile, digital explorations in acoustic ecology studies.
Original languageEnglish
Pages157-162
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
EventSound and Music Computing conference 2012 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 9 Jul 2012 → …

Conference

ConferenceSound and Music Computing conference 2012
Abbreviated titleSMC
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period9/07/12 → …

Keywords

  • sound
  • sonic interaction design
  • digital art installation
  • Mobile audio listening

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