Comments on the Project from MS Representative

Feedback from Ruth, part of the design expo competition:

In a world where nearly everyone is listening to music on their smartphone, why not see what everybody is listening to? The StreetBeat is public art display that senses what music is played near it and visualizes this music for the benefit of passers-by. It allows anyone to leave his or her own mark by having his music visualized as well as exploring and experiencing new music, played by others. To experience such music, you don't even need a smartphone, just plug in a pair of headphones. This isn't to say you can't take this music home on your phone. Beyond these, StreetBeat also shows the musical DNA of its location, be it a street, a neighborhood, or a town square. This is done by integrating data by artist or genre to show and display what's trending and who's popular.Blog: http://streetbeat2.blogspot.co.il/

1. Getting the musical pulse of a place is great. I saw that you got enough feedback on feasibility and copyright issues, so I’m not going to get into that

I want to focus on the installation itself. I think you should explore it more.

2. How can you make it more inviting? More playful? What would make someone stop and actually listen? You are creating something dynamic and entertaining. Your project is not about utility – it’s about fun and voyeurism. Can you reflect that in your design?  What if you had to have physical contact to hear the music, to feel the music? Laurie Anderson had a brilliant installation called the headphone table - you put your elbows in 2 little dimples on the surface, cover your ears and then your body would become the speakers through your hollow bones and you could hear the music. It was a very powerful thing to experience, but the other powerful thing was to see other people doing it, and watch them. What is the performance aspect that you are creating with your installation? What do you want your users to feel? How would you like them to react?

Another aspect of an installation is what do you get from various distances – what is the experience of someone on the other side of the street? What is the experience for someone passing by? For someone who touches it?I would suggest to you to rethink the experience. You can find some inspiration in places like ars technical (and others). Look at this image of a sound installation– http://www.audioversum.at/It’s simple, intriguing, there’s a performance element, an intimate experience element … it is a technical product, but doesn’t scream “technology”. This is just an example, and probably there are thousand others – just trying to open your mind to examine the experience you are trying to createMore stuff to consider:

1. You want to have it be outside, and you’re using light sequences as your main thing. Would work at night, but what happens during the day in the israeli sunlight?
2. Have you thought about directional audio that creates “sound bubbles”?  That way your users will be able to hear the music without headphones and without “polluting” the street with music [http://www.holosonics.com/?m?]
3. But what if it’s only me around? Can I play back yesterday? Or my birthday?
4. When playing the music on someone’s phone, instead of a youtube video, it might be more interesting to create connection to the location and show footage on what was happening there when this music was captured

Enough talk, now go and make a memorable, emotional and beautiful piece of art. 

Good luck!