Air Quality Game

11/12

p5 sketch: https://editor.p5js.org/lucas.wozniak1/sketches/SfH8G1OaP

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11/5

Hardware:

The air quality sensor arrived! I decided to go with the "Grove -- Air Quality Sensor v1.3" from this sensor comparison article (mentioned in my previous update below), for its affordability and versatility. It can sense a wide range of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), such as carbon monoxide, alcohol, acetone, thinner, formaldehyde, and other slightly toxic gases. I think it will work well for mapping the general air pollution / toxicity of different areas of the city.

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Software:

Here's an example I found of using a joystick to control p5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvvttIN7Bs

I found a sketch example of a "breathing ball" that animates larger and smaller over time. I plan to work off some of this code to animate the scaling up and down of a "breath circle" based on serial data coming in from the sound sensor (as the participant breathes over it).

I plan to put some of my in-progress Illustrator skills to use in creating a colorful puzzle-piece map of Brooklyn like this:

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Game Logic:

The participant is enlisted to "restore the ecological health" of the urban forest of northwest Brooklyn (the neighborhoods I frequent the most and in which I will document the air quality). Using the joystick, they can move a "cloud" icon (symbolizing air/breath/atmosphere) around a map like the one pictured above. Lingering over a neighborhood will change the scene into an animated challenge requiring the participant to match their rate of breathing out over the sound sensor with the air quality sensor reading of air toxicity. Pollution particulates will be floating aimlessly around the screen and will "swarm" in sort of like a bee hive effect as the participant breathes harder over the sound sensor. The animated "breath circle" will give color feedback as well, switching from blue (no/little breath) to green (breath matches pollution density) to red (breath too heavy). If the participant can maintain the flow of breath in the green zone for a couple of seconds, then the air flow of that neighborhood will be cleared. The scene will transition back to the map view, and that neighborhood's color overlay will switch to green. The participant will be encouraged to keep clearing the air flows of the various neighborhood until all the "puzzle pieces" are green, at which point an animation finale will play, and some more data on local air pollution (found from online research) and links to further reading will appear.

10/29

Brainstorming:

• sketch plays music at rate of particulate matter air quality
• can go into individual rooms (my apartment room, forest, itp floor, under highway, in subway, at river) from map
• option to layer the instruments
• x humidity?
• it will either sequence through the rooms or let you pick your own adventure through the rooms
• as you breathe out, the sound of the room’s air quality plays out
• to move to the next room, you have to match the speed of your breathing to the density of the air particles (pre-programmed scale)

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Effect:

• get a visceral connection to the quality of air and its suitability for breathing

Resources:

• air quality sensor comparison: https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2020/03/18/air-quality-sensor-comparison-which-one-should-you-use-for-your-arduino-pi-project/
• sparkfun air quality sensor: https://octopart.com/sen-14193-sparkfun-81882725
• coding train: mapping earthquake data in p5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiYdOwOrGyc

References:

• analysis and visualization of air quality using real time pollutant data: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9074283
• visualizing air quality data: https://www.devic-earth.com/post/visualizing-air-quality-data
• sonifying for public engagement: a context-based model for sonifying air pollution data: https://www.academia.edu/27870827/Sonifying_for_Public_Engagement_A_Context_based_Model_for_Sonifying_Air_Pollution_Data
• itp weather band data sonification projects

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