Readable City Soundscapes reading visual noise in the hybrid city
Katerina Antonaki
Eleni Glinou
Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens Faculty of Graphic Arts & Design Athens, Greece
[email protected] m
Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens Faculty of Graphic Arts & Design Athens, Greece
[email protected]
Irene Mavro mmati Hellenic Open Un iversity, School of Applied Arts Patras, Greece mavro
[email protected]
George Birb ilis Zoomicon.com & Hellenic Open University Patras, Greece birbilis@zoo micon.co m
Abstract. Our e xperience of the city is formed through a constant symbiosis with a vast amount of printed and often readable information. Printed images are dominant elements of the public terrain, read consciously or unconsciously. Visual noise is approached here as an additional verbal sound layer of the city. The aural aspects of printed information in urban spaces can be added to the existing soundscape of hybrid cities. An investigation of this audio-echo dimension of hybrid cities is described here. Keywords: Urban space, printed information, cartography, visual noise, urban soundscapes, hybrid space, OCR
I.
INT RODUCTION: THE READABLE IN URBAN SPACE
The urban space in which we live, walk, interact and communicate is characterized by accelerat ion of informat ion images, as natural consequence of the spatial overabundance as Mark Augé [1] described. This accumu lation of p rinted images has fabricated a new multi-layered urban skin which is as much architectonic as much readable. Every city has its own tune, consisting of variable parameters [3]. Even if one extracts all the aural stimuli, the city still holds a visual echo. Printed images give the city aspects of certain noise, the “loudness”, depending on the colour palette, the text, the repetit ion and the accumulat ion. The printed information in public space produces, besides a visual haze, a perceived audible echo as well. Absence of printed images gives a different ‘audible’ quality. Printed images are do minant elements of the public terrain that are read consciously or unconsciously. The soundscape is hereby approached “as a carrier of informat ion or as a factor of disturbance” that “enriches our consciousness being processed and unconsciously filtered in the perceptual process” [3]. As inhabitants of the city, we are exposed to an overwhelming echo landscape that is co-produced by our interaction with
public visual informat ion as well as the urban areas’ soundscape. Graphic designers are conscious of this echo dimension and intentionally use type and design tools to increase the volume of the co mmun ication. Following previous research work “the-walk-in-thecity” [3] we aim to place the research one step further by “translating” the impact of printed material which is in public view, into sound. Giving to the visual the qualities of acoustic content, we reflect on the complexity of our sonic environ ments. Urban space is colonized by the visual image, images being well organized or spread, created purposely as well as accidental. The façade of the architectural structure changes dramatically wh ile whole neighbourhoods are covered with a form of wallpaper. Printed informat ion is a do minant element of our everyday life, ju xtaposition and superimposition of images, layers of informat ion and materials. It is widely believed -by commun ication theorists and advertising markets- that this initial impact is of vital importance [5][6]. What is the initial impact of visual images in the case of this visual haze? Can our ‘peripheral’ vision translate all those image-messages? The collage of visual images we face created new patterns of the urban terrain that entail fusion, both spatial and cognitive. “Any striking or unusual aspect of design can function as noise if it fails to reinforce the sender’s intention” [5]. We can refer to this as semantic noise with consequences being almost brutal not only regarding its aesthetical impact but also social concerns about the creation of passive viewers, and imp lying lack of resistance on their part. Visual noise of the urban space has an apparent sound dimension, which co mes out of the silent, subjective reading of the city walker, and happens mostly in the subconscious (see Fig.1). The literal echo that results from the readings adds to the cityscape an
extra sound layer while creating zones of mean ing. The mean ing is composed via the audio coexistence of the readings, by energizing, neutralizing, recharging, and eliminating the value of words, creating other unique narrations. Thus, the urban space, through its visual identity, reveals unexpressed soundscapes.
Fig.1: Photo-shooting (April 2013) at Thivon St., Athens, during visual investigation and documentation of the cities printed information (Readable Athens).
In Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? [7] the authors introduce the social component of sound in space by enlightening us how social relationships and interactions are influenced according to the sound variables of space. Effectively, the question that arises is: Which is the auditory dimension of special awareness in graphic design? II. THE READABLE CITIES PROCESS An approach that combined a nu mber of process steps, which were fo llowed during the various experiments of Readable Cities is outlined in this section. These steps (apart from the two first) were not always followed in a step by step sequence, but rather in a combinatory fashion, in order to serve several different purposes. They are a result of the readable cities concepts described above, being applied in various different areas, including co mposing type design, artistic expression, soundscape-cartography, soundscape composition, among others. A. Photographic Documentation The first step followed was the documentation of public areas, focusing on the printed information (i.e. posters, graffiti) of central areas in cities like Athens (eg. areas or main streets such as Exarxeia. Thivon st.). This documentation was mediated: it was an intentional selection of certain photographs, with an abundance of printed information, (a selection that was done by workshop participants acting as photographers). Documentation was done via digital photographs (digital cameras, mobile phones, etc) in the actual location [8]. An alternative way of documentation, (without the prerequisite of the mediator to be in the actual city location in order to collect this photographic data) could be a mediated selection from internet
resources/photographs, i.e. selection of certain areas fro m Google Street View, etc. B. Digitalisation: An OCR (Optical Character Recognition) application was then used that reads photographs that contain written information (mostly fro m posters) from the city. The results of the OCR readings practically recompose those posters distilling the textual information. By using the original data of the written information as design elements we develop a process where we approach the city as a setting that designs itself with as little interference as possible. The designer becomes just an inter-mediator in the whole process. Th is OCR-process (Fig.2) was also used as a method of teaching graphic design students to act as design mediators and produce type designs . C. Generation of Audio: recorded or generated input Audio input is achieved via documentation with audio recording, such as personal recordings of our 'silent' day walks in certain roads of the city, where people read loudly the content of the posters while walking. As a result of this process a video and sound piece were presented at Voices/ Fones exhibition [9]. Generating sound from the OCR output (fro m the photographic documentation) was attempted as another way to create audio, with an ‘automated text to speech’ tool, but this experiment did not prove useful to be further utilised or integrated to the experiments. D. Create soundscapes using readable-cities audio New soundscapes can be composed by adding these audio recordings (‘readings’), fro m the previous step, on the physical city’s soundscape (as an extra sound layer). An extra layer of sound information is thus created, which, until that point, was only existent as a subconscious/internal reading. E. Cartography and the Readable City Routes in the city have a soundtrack; therefore we attempted a semantic cartography of the noise created within readable cities. Those ‘visual’ sounds we tried to map and present their impact via software. A case study in co mmercial roads of the city of Athens was explored, via a desktop application created for this purpose [10]. Using Maps to visualise/make audible the layers of information of Readable cities can offer a lot of potential. It can assist with soundscape applications (with added readable layers of the visual noise) . Or it can provide a semantic representation on maps (i.e. based on colour mapping) of the cities visual noise, that is integrated in the urban terrain. III. READABLE CITIES EXPERIMENTATION The process steps described in the previous section were used in several design experiments that were based on the concept of Readable Cities. We hereby highlight these experiments:
A. Readable Warshaw/Athens experiments Readable Warsaw was a workshop experiment, during ‘Think In Visual Co mmunication’ Sy mposium (Warsaw Nov, 2014). Public informat ion was explored by a photo-shoot of participants in areas of Warsaw. Text, inseparable fro m architectural surfaces, was selectively passed via an OCR, and, via a second exercise, several posters emerged as type design experiments. The Readable Cities Method (namely the first two steps) was utilised here in an educational context to inform and inspire a type design process. The benefit of this method in the educational process was to use step by step a comb ination of semi-intentional and semi accidental elements in typographic poster design and have students reflect on the urban grunge aesthetic and act as design mediators . Each workshop participant in Warsaw acted as a reader of the city's 'readable skin'. Collection of data was achieved through the mediation of participants acting as photographers of the readable information of Warsaw (by use of digital camera or mobile phone). Following this method, participants tried to trace types of readable information a walking visitor would co me in contact with (somet imes unconsciously) while following a route. The results of the OCR readings were used to compose posters of the town that were then presented as part of an exh ibition open to the public. The elements of the OCR reading were products of a second stage formation, a filt ration of the reading, presenting an adventure playful syntax. They produced a dynamic new layer of reading the cityscape. Fro m this point of view the OCRS stand “at the edge”, having lost the initial meaning of the words they initiated. Consequently, standing out of rational content images lose their main goal, that of co mmunicating certain information, while they create new forms of interaction. By doing so students can create a consciousness of the fragile links in between art and design forms of communication. A previous similar workshop in Athens has taken place in April 2013, paving the way for a series of Readable Cit ies Worskhops addressing type design.
Fig.2: A sample image of resulting OCR poster and initial image (Readable Athens).
B. Voices / Fones : Case study An artistic case study based on Readable Athens concept, was participation at the exhibition Fo nés: Dialogies Between Art and Anthropology at CAMP (3/2014) [9]. With a sound document and a Readable Athens video (see also IIc). The sound document was a composition of recordings of 'silent readings' of the printed information in the streets of Athens (posters, brochures, store signs, announcements, commercial material, sale prices, street names, etc.) and the video was the reading of the visual information of multip le streets of Athens, from a “book” that was composed of diverse narrations that came up from the transcripts of our previous recordings of those 'silent readings’ [11]. Both these cases were different examp les/ 'translations' of the visual noise that coexists in our urban environment, and which not only acquires aural / sonic attributes but also forms new unexpected narrations. The aim was to question the notion of 'silent reading' and underline that the visual noise of the urban space co-exist with a semantic haze that do not facilitate communication. The result of this reading adds to the literal soundscape of the town, creating zones of meanings. The urban space, through its visual identity, reveals unexpressed soundscapes full of meaning. Taking into consideration the ubiquitous presence of images then it is easy to understand that this vast amount of informat ion far exceeds the conventional notions that images are just objects for consumption. Images are the linking points, they could also be considered as points of mediation that allow access to a variety of different experiences [13]. Images are the interfaces that structure the interaction of people with the environments they share [14]. Thus their communicative role into our social, cultural and spatial environment is of big importance. Taking in account the vast amount of the printed information which exists in the streets of the cities, this public typographic tapestry could also be described as a landmark, which encloses the recent history and the memory of the city. Local stories, habits, social and political reactions of the community all form an “organic” skin which is always in the process of creation. Thus this typographic wallpaper becomes an imprint on the walls, both placed and found, accidentally created. An imprint loaded with narratives , self-created by the cities, which describe the present social, cultural and political scene. C. Readable Athens, city map soundscape The graphic design research project Readable skin of the Town / Athens [8], has led to generating initial tests of 'translating' the OCR images of the printed information into sounds. By placing those sound-posters on the map, on the exact position where the initial photographs were taken an echo dimension of the visual noise was attempted through cartography of urban
soundcapes. With this study we investigated the chartography of the echo dimension of printed images in the City of Athens. The case study focused in commercial roads of the city of Athens. The ‘visual’ sounds that occurred from the Readable City Process, were mapped and via software. A desktop application was created, loading images fro m a fo lder and displaying pins on a map (OpenStreetMap), based on the EXIF GPS data in the images [10] (see also IIE). When the mouse moves over the map, it p lays crowd-noise sound based on how much text is contained in the (OCR-preprocessed) images of the nearby pins and how far the mouse cursor is fro m them. When the mouse moves over a pin it displays the associated image. The total city-noise volume and pin size is dependent on the visual noise generated in that area. By the term “soundtrack” of the city we mean in a first level the co mposition that occurs from our inner ‘silent readings’ while walking in the city, a soundtrack that maps our personal routes and in a second level the compositions which are formed fro m the aural dimension of the printed images of the city. In that context each area, street, wall has its own soundtrack, which is formed based on accidental circu mstances. IV.
utilitarian way, this method has potential in order to add visual and street noise together so as to better perceive the total echo of Hybrid Cit ies, and thus measure the total noise effect of a certain area. Future work based on the Readable Cities concept, has shown potential in informing visualisation in cartography, and in particular in visualising the clutter and noise aspects of urban areas within maps . One aspect that needs to be considered in the future is the directionality of the visual-scape (as well as audio scape). It is via certain routes that attention is drawn to certain elements in the environment, visual or auditory. Direction of attention towards information has to be taken into account for further research into composite sounsdcapes that include elements from readable cities research and applied into maps as well. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3]
[4]
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
In this paper we presented a shift from the visual to the oral or else the visual enhanced with the sound dimension. McLuhan in his sensory analysis of our post-print culture outlined “the sensory shift towards aneye based culture which has perceptual effects in the organization of thought” [14]. Bringing to conscious non visible aspects of printed information would offer us the opportunity to enhance our perception and uncover hidden meanings and qualities of the printbased skin of the city. By reclaiming our acoustic space, possibly we would be able to make mo re co mplex liaisons, create communal experiences and enhance our understanding of the visual printed information. Readable skins of cit ies as a method can be further utilised by utilising internet resources -such as images selected from Google Street View- as well as intentionally sampled images photographed in situ. Readable Cities experimentations (via workshops and events) have resulted in mediated type design, done semi-intentionally and semi-automatically. The method was also successful in producing of automated speech narratives, embodied in artistic events , as described above. Based on these experiments and taking them further, an auditory narrative of automated text, produced with this method, can be added in recorded city sounds capes. Its use is twofold: It can be a further exploration into aesthetic aspects of urban spaces, a readable layer added to the compositions of cities sounscapes. Or, in a mo re
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