Project

Echologue

Echologue is a new kind of public space media for sensing and displaying socio-cultural characteristics of a place based on its sonic features. It can reflect its surroundings like a "smart mirror," highlight the salient details and patterns in the environment, and contribute to our understanding of the perception of social places. The interface senses ambient sound and deliberate user input and displays a visualization of the activity in that space as its output. The design explores the utility of sound for envisioning new social, cultural, and entertainment uses of public places and helps us shape our relationships with each other with new social interfaces embedded in urban settings.