Sme(n)ms started as a thesis proposal which has now gained new life thanks to the generosity of ITRI's Creativity Lab and the encouragement of the project members Chientai and Celia. It's a rather large project for me with hopefully long term potential - it's represents one of the first opportunities I have had to create real 'tangible' products that harness the capabilities of the web. I'll be updating this entry as updates are available but the real record of this project will be on the project website, currently hidden behind a firewall.

Project Outline
The Sme(n)ms project involves the creation of collaborative environments that allow for the ongoing sharing and creation of sound events. The most important goal of these systems is to provide an easily understood malleable environment that allows for creative expression and communication at a rich level.

Work
The initial proposed works allow for participation in musical performances introducing new metaphors and physical interfaces that are both accessible and expressive. Also, we are working towards incorporating the “network as an essential part of the artwork”, a first step in creating our environments. The following are some of our early results:

Adult Chairs
Adult Chairs are a tangible interface that allows for rudimentary control over a musical performance. The interface, woven into an object that is part of the fabric of our everyday life, adds to the element of surprise helping to create an engaging experience from something very simple.

Child Chairs
Child Chairs are tangible interfaces reduced to their most simple form allowing children to participate in a music game that tests and increases their musical and memory acuity.

Traffic and Ambient Room
Traffic' and 'Ambient room' are software agents which use a library of sound and visuals to create live real time performance from network traffic.

While Traffic and Ambient Room utilize the same software engine their aims slightly differ. Traffic attempts to create spontaneous real time auditory compositions or improvisations using data gained from network traffic. Ambient room attempts to use the same data to give life to an otherwise invisible and lifeless form, transforming a silent room into a sonic and visual environment.

Abstract updated draft

This project proposes an investigation into the creation of a collaborative environment that will allow for the ongoing sharing and creation of sound events (music). The goal of such a system is to provide an easily understood yet malleable environment that allows for creative expression and communication at a rich level. Current online collaborative music environments are geared toward traditional studio environments, use metaphors unfamiliar to most, require levels of expertise non-musician non-expert participants would not possess, and generally employ interaction metaphors that constrict the variety of possible results. This proposed work will allow for participation in an ongoing musical performance introducing new metaphors and physical interfaces that are both accessible and expressive. The model for our investigation is the “kitchen jam” sessions that I witnessed in my youth in Atlantic Canada. These kitchen jam sessions helped provide one of the few means of entertainment and social activities for many communities, especially those in rural areas where people lived a fair distance from one another. We substitute the kitchen community with the internet. The sounds of the tapping of pots and pans, beating of hands on tables, and singing which all helped form a compliment to the more experienced members playing more traditional musical instruments become digital audio controlled by tangible interfaces.

Future implementations might allow for an increased range of artifacts to be used including: a number of tangible interfaces (instruments), and various mobile devices.

Keywords: Interaction Design; Digital Narrative; Digital Vernacular; Shared Musical Environments; Internet Music; Tangible Interfaces; Web based Collaboration

Categorized: Work and Working , Projects

Tagged: , Projects