{"id":6611,"date":"2023-10-10T01:03:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T01:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/?p=6611"},"modified":"2023-10-10T01:07:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T01:07:04","slug":"pollen-count-physicalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/2023\/10\/10\/pollen-count-physicalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollen Count Physicalization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Data Set<\/h2>\n\n\n
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I chose to use data on the pollen count of different plants throughout the year in Albuquerque. This data was from the City of Albuquerque database. I’ve linked the original dataset, as well as the cleaned data. I wanted my final pieces to form some sort of family or object that was functional in some way related to the dataset itself. Thus as I was perusing datasets on different databases, I was also looking for a topic gave me an idea for a way to implement the final objects. I found the pollen dataset and had the idea to create a sort of wind chime, since the pollen is spread by the wind. I grabbed my vessels from the last project and bonked them together and found that they did make somewhat interesting noises, so I thought it’d be nice to make something somewhat lovely out of the stuff that causes everyone’s allergies. Or perhaps it’s cacophonous, but I guess that’s up to the observer’s subjective experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found this dataset to be pretty comprehensive – it included pollen count from many different plants over many different years. However, I also found it to be frustrating, because the pollen count data was taken in very sporadic intervals. It seems like they were trying to record data everyday, but often they would skip anywhere from 1 to 8 days, and it was not consistent. I wanted to represent three different plants, and then I chose the year based on what looked like it had the most consistent data recording. So the data is based on the pollen count of the Cottonwood trees, Ash trees, and Chenopodiaceae (common weeds, related to amaranth) on the east side of ABQ in 2004. I found that I got the most consistency by only using the data recorded every 3 days, although sometimes if data wasn’t recorded on a day, I had to use the data from the previous or next day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PollenHistoryCountCABQ-en-us<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
PollenDataFinalClean<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Design Process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to create long cylindrical(ish) object similar to wind chimes to they could bump into each other in the wind, so I used the process of graphing the data and spinning it around the z axis, & I added an offset to create thicker walls. The Cottonwood and Ash typically produce pollen from March – June, and the weeds produce from April – August. In the cleaned data I staggered them bases on where the data starts and ends, and you can also see this in the Rhino renders. <\/p>\n\n\n

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From left to right is Cottonwood, Ash, and then Chenopodiaceae. I had to cut off some of the data at the beginning that made the objects less printable – the bottom being either way to small or way (Cottonwood and weeds) or way too wide (Ash), but I only cut off a day or two. I did this by altering where the code started reading the data from. From bottom to top this represents data from March to September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Printing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the Ash, I decided to try out using internal supports because I had some steep angles and I wanted to have some first hand experience with the supports after seeing other people’s experiences, so this was a good opportunity. It added 5 extra hours but I think it helped with keeping the steep angles. I didn’t even attempt to remove them though because they seem to be really attached. I will keep avoiding supports in the future, but it was a good experience. The Chenopodiaceae print fell over when it was getting to the widest part so I tried reprinting and the same thing happened again, only after printing slightly more that the first one. I didn’t want to use the adhesion supports because of concerns with detaching, so that’s what I was left with. I think I should have flipped the model and printed from the other side, and perhaps it would’ve been a little sturdier. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Supports printing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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After the piece (to the left) fell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Final Piece<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I hung the data chimes such that they were at the same relative levels as the staggering of the data, so that we can see where the pollen starts being produced and changes throughout the year relative to the others. I’m going to hang it outside in my yard and see how the PLA holds up in the sun. I’m excited because I have another wind chime, and this will add more percussive chimes to the mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reflection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Designing with data was a new challenge that I had never considered in the art space. I find it very intriguing because I really like art that has several layers to it. It can be a powerful way to represent and spread information in an captivating way that can also just be beautiful. I think it’s unique for a piece to materialize the forms of a phenomena in the world, and adds fascination to information. I think Laura Splan put it really beautifully when describing her project Manifest (the models demonstrating the EMGs of different human expressions) – “The project examines the potential for objects to embody human experience and to materialize the intangible.” There’s something special about the physical manifestation of an incorporeal thing, like bridging some gap between the physical world and the concept world. To physicalize data goes even further than visualizing data in providing an extra level of interaction. To be able to hold a piece that encapsulates the forms of concept in a way we can’t quite otherwise experience is really unique. As a process of creation, it also allows the creator to explore and discover patterns and facts about the world they might not have known or even considered, which can be a great source of inspiration and growth. I feel like I expanded my knowledge about the depths of information that is out there and also what is harder to find. I learned about the pollen count patterns which I would not have really looked into if not for this project. I found an appreciation for the fluctuations in all the plants’ production throughout the year and how often there is something in the air that might make someone sneeze. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physicalizing data made me wonder about representing data with sounds – like creating a waveform in the shape of the data. I think there could be some fun experimenting there. I’ve also seen NASA post videos called sonifications where show you what galaxies and stars “sound” like (in an artful way, not literally), by mapping the colors, brightness, certain objects, and locations of things in an image to different sounds, volume levels, notes, panning, etc. It yields some pretty amazing results and provide an interesting way to think about the images. I’ll link their sonifications page below – it’s not physicalization in the same sense we are working with, but I think it’s an interesting use of data. I had never really considered this before as using data, but it’s really awesome. I did a little research and also found some interesting ways other people have used sound to represent data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/hubble\/multimedia\/sonifications\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Code<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
LaurenUrendaLA3<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data Set I chose to use data on the pollen count of different plants throughout the year in Albuquerque. This data was from the City of Albuquerque database. I’ve linked the original dataset, as well as the cleaned data. I wanted my final pieces to form some sort of family or object that was functional in some way related to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-studentwork23"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6611"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6708,"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611\/revisions\/6708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handandmachine.org\/classes\/computational_fabrication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}