Design Documentation
Design Documentation: Out of Sight, Out of Mind.
Bethany Green 306210649
Data Characteristics:
The final datasets which are used in the production of the data sculpture are; Sydney News Articles, Amount of words written and Sydney Water Consumption in Mega liters (Ml). The reason for the focus on the amount of words written in each news article is because it begins to show how much detail was written on the topic. When collecting the data on the News articles there is a focus on newspapers that specifically cover the Sydney Metropolitan area, such as: the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph and newspapers with National coverage: the Age, and The Australian. This ensures that the articles are available to the Sydney Readership.
The datasets were created with a focus on the fortnights when The Sydney Catchment Authority gave Media Releases, specifically; the introduction of Level one water restrictions October 1st 2003, the introduction of Level Two water restrictions 25th June 1st 2004, the release of the 25 year water plan October 19th 2004. This allows the data trends to become obvious, during these times the press specifically focused on the water crisis in Sydney. Around each of the media releases the media peaked in the production of relevant news articles, and within the fortnightly period each the largest recorded reductions in water use were located during these times of peak media coverage.
Within this data however, there are several outliers specifically within the data collected from the release of the 25-year water plan. In this Data set, there are two specific peaks of data in relation to the amount of words written in Sydney news articles. One peak is in relation to the media release from the Sydney catchment authority occurring on the same day, and the other comes several days after. This outlier could be due to an article being written after public response to the media release causing further articles to be written.
After both the Level one and two water restriction releases, with a delay of one day, Sydney experienced a significant drop in Water Use. On October 2nd 2003, there was a drop of 248 Mega-liters, and on June 2nd another drop of 250 Mega-liters. While on October 19th; the same day in which Sydney Catchment Authority released it’s 25 year water plan for Sydney, documented the largest amount of publicity through Sydney News papers for the period, and on the same day saw the largest drop in water use, with a reduction of 341 Mega-Liters. In general there was always a rise and fall of generally falling between 50 and 150 mega-liters, this perhaps is caused by temperature changes. However the data shows the significant drops in water use following the press releases from the Sydney Catchment Authorities and the related Articles published within the Sydney Regions. In order to demonstrate this the data has been collected from the fortnight surrounding the media release, this allows the data to demonstrate it’s normal rise and fall, which then clearly outlines when the water use drops.
Each of these three instances can be viewed as separate instances, where each media release is viewed alone, and they can also be viewed as a collective, where they can be compared. Separately they show the impact of each of the individual media releases; the increase in articles and the decrease in water use. While when viewed together they show on a larger scale the trend that during increased periods of media coverage on the Sydney water crisis people are affected and they use less water.
The link to my excel file which includes both data sets can be found here.
Design Rational
As previously described The vertical lines that curve outwards from the centre of the circle represents the articles and the water use. Each are labelled accordingly on the bottom of each of the pieces. The Water pieces are recognisable as they are located at the peaks of the central pieces. The Line thickness represents areas where there was an increase in the amount of articles; allows the viewer to realise that the increase in words corresponds with an increase in articles as well. In some sections the thickness attribute had to be mildly compromised because of the structural integrity of the sculpture.
These lines that fall vertically are also representative of the metaphor of falling water from a tap. As previously presented during the first presentation of the design idea.
As described in the previous section the data can be viewed separately or together, this has driven the development of the data sculpture. To create the effect of one single model with three separate datasets, the inner circle has three protruding sections that indicate the three individual datasets. They also add intricacy to the to the sculpture and to engage audience to view the inside and to peer through the holes in the surfaces.
These centre pieces are data driven and are used to further explain the data that is present in the vertical pieces. Each consists of a circle with three points protruding from it, which connect to the water line. At these points there are three options there can be one open hole; indicating to significant change happened to the data, or there may be several large holes or several small holes; these holes together represent a significant reduction in water use, when read vertically along one data line the holes drop from large to small representing a change from large water use to small water use. As the changes in water can be subtle this assists the viewer in recognising the largest change.
The inner circle of these middle sections also represents the 0 line, the base line for all of the graphs, which radiate out from the centre of the circle at 120 degree intervals. The sections that connect to the water graph create a visual segregation between the 3 separate data sets, while also combining the three for comparison.
Research And Data Sources
Sydney Catchment Authority Archives
At these archives the Sydney Catchment Authority provides the data on a daily basis of the dam levels, rainfall, and water that is supplied to the Sydney Metropolitan area. From this data source the data for the daily water supplied was collected for use in the final dataset.
Google News Archives
At Google news archives, I searched through the months that were located around the press release times, and used those sources valid to the Sydney Metropolitan area such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Age, and The Australian etc. Then view each of these articles and calculate their word count, this data was then tabulated for use in the final data set.
“Sydney’s water supply and the press” By S. Haertsch
This article written by Haertsch outlines News Articles from the Sydney area and the influences behind these articles. She provides several reasons for the news articles and discusses the tones and objectives of the news articles. She also created and appendix of the articles which she collected in relation to her study. This appendix of the articles and their word count as a reference for the final data set, as some of these articles were not available online.
Final Data Sculpture
The initial design idea required looking for a metaphor in order to explain the dataset’s story. Due to my data seemingly flowing along on their own courses until there is a press release and then they are connected and affect each other, then they continue along their own paths, this reminded me of water running through a stream. Where water travels along a path until it hits a rock and then there is a change, and then it continues along the path.
The design process in the lead up to the final data sculpture involved playing with the form of the falling vertical lines that represent the data. I was challenged during the design ideas presentation to create a piece that will cause the audience to look through and within the data sculpture. While I was examining the data to see what I could accentuate or explain, it came to me that in order to tell the story I felt that it was important to point out or accentuate the main reductions in water use.
I played with several methods for doing this within the Maya Modelling system. As I has decided to radiate the data out from a central point using 120 degrees to separate them the use of a circle as the central base line (where the values equal zero) was a logical choice.
I experimented using 14 central pieces to indicate the 14 separate days within the data, but this was unnecessary and cluttered the data. I therefore decided that I only needed the central pieces where I wanted to point out the story behind the data. These main reductions occurred on days five, six, seven, eight and nine. I also experimented with different forms of for these central pieces.
The design now consists of an open top and bottom where the data set seems to explode off out of the top of the data set. In a very naturalistic form, to reflect the water metaphor which I was attempting to convey.
Here are some Pictures of the final DataSculpture:
Technical Challenges or Difficulties Encountered
Throughout the design process there were many challenges including, using new programs, understanding the laser cutting system, creating an engaging model, and Perspex fragility.
Learning how to use new programs was a challenge that we all undertook, for me the process was challenging but rewarding. Throughout the production of my model I was forced to explore the functions of Rhino and learn how to use the program to conquer these issues, in majority through exploration and experimentation. This made it an incredibly challenging, however I felt a sense of achievement once the model was created. Modelling the vertical pieces in Maya on 120 degree axis made it difficult to keep the shape locked to a plane, this caused the shapes to become distorted and when it was transferred into rhino the surfaces could not be extruded unless the curves were planar. This was a challenge because without moving each individual vertex, which I couldn’t lock to a point I was unable to make the curve planar. This was fixed after Gabe taught me how to project a curve to a plane, this meant learning how to move the object, project the curve to the plane making it planar and then moving it back into it’s original position.
Another issue that I encountered while using Rhino was creating the notches to connect the individual pieces together. Because the pieces changed directions and angles this was a difficult task that took several attempts to achieve. It was hard to comprehend which was the best way to achieve notches in the end I decided to notch the water pieces correctly as they connected to the outer protrusions of the circles and would act as a stable connection for the entire model. The inner Article pieces which weave inside and outside the inner circles were a combination of a proper notch where the vertical pieces connect to the inner circle from the same direction as the water pieces, and a half notch where only the articles piece was cut to allow the pieces to join.
These notches also made a problem when it came time to cut, in several different ways; Because I created the model in rhino, and then moved the 2d shapes into AutoCAD, I decided to scale the image, however when I did this I neglected to realise that I was essentially doubling the size of the material that I needed to use, until I had already cut the layout using the 2mm Perspex. In order to fix this problem I could go back and reduce the size of the model by 50% (which meant having a model which was 15cm in height) and needing to remodel the notches within Rhino or I could cut the layout again using 4mm Perspex. After communicating with several people from the workshop including, Gabe, Anne, and Rick I decided that it would be more efficient to simply cut the model again.
The second difficulty with the notches was because at certain points these notches considerably weakened the Perspex and in several cases the Perspex snapped from this weakening. This could only be fixed by using superglue to fix the joins.
Bethany Green 306210649
Data Characteristics:
The final datasets which are used in the production of the data sculpture are; Sydney News Articles, Amount of words written and Sydney Water Consumption in Mega liters (Ml). The reason for the focus on the amount of words written in each news article is because it begins to show how much detail was written on the topic. When collecting the data on the News articles there is a focus on newspapers that specifically cover the Sydney Metropolitan area, such as: the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph and newspapers with National coverage: the Age, and The Australian. This ensures that the articles are available to the Sydney Readership.
The datasets were created with a focus on the fortnights when The Sydney Catchment Authority gave Media Releases, specifically; the introduction of Level one water restrictions October 1st 2003, the introduction of Level Two water restrictions 25th June 1st 2004, the release of the 25 year water plan October 19th 2004. This allows the data trends to become obvious, during these times the press specifically focused on the water crisis in Sydney. Around each of the media releases the media peaked in the production of relevant news articles, and within the fortnightly period each the largest recorded reductions in water use were located during these times of peak media coverage.
Within this data however, there are several outliers specifically within the data collected from the release of the 25-year water plan. In this Data set, there are two specific peaks of data in relation to the amount of words written in Sydney news articles. One peak is in relation to the media release from the Sydney catchment authority occurring on the same day, and the other comes several days after. This outlier could be due to an article being written after public response to the media release causing further articles to be written.
After both the Level one and two water restriction releases, with a delay of one day, Sydney experienced a significant drop in Water Use. On October 2nd 2003, there was a drop of 248 Mega-liters, and on June 2nd another drop of 250 Mega-liters. While on October 19th; the same day in which Sydney Catchment Authority released it’s 25 year water plan for Sydney, documented the largest amount of publicity through Sydney News papers for the period, and on the same day saw the largest drop in water use, with a reduction of 341 Mega-Liters. In general there was always a rise and fall of generally falling between 50 and 150 mega-liters, this perhaps is caused by temperature changes. However the data shows the significant drops in water use following the press releases from the Sydney Catchment Authorities and the related Articles published within the Sydney Regions. In order to demonstrate this the data has been collected from the fortnight surrounding the media release, this allows the data to demonstrate it’s normal rise and fall, which then clearly outlines when the water use drops.
Each of these three instances can be viewed as separate instances, where each media release is viewed alone, and they can also be viewed as a collective, where they can be compared. Separately they show the impact of each of the individual media releases; the increase in articles and the decrease in water use. While when viewed together they show on a larger scale the trend that during increased periods of media coverage on the Sydney water crisis people are affected and they use less water.
The link to my excel file which includes both data sets can be found here.
Design Rational
As previously described The vertical lines that curve outwards from the centre of the circle represents the articles and the water use. Each are labelled accordingly on the bottom of each of the pieces. The Water pieces are recognisable as they are located at the peaks of the central pieces. The Line thickness represents areas where there was an increase in the amount of articles; allows the viewer to realise that the increase in words corresponds with an increase in articles as well. In some sections the thickness attribute had to be mildly compromised because of the structural integrity of the sculpture.
These lines that fall vertically are also representative of the metaphor of falling water from a tap. As previously presented during the first presentation of the design idea.
As described in the previous section the data can be viewed separately or together, this has driven the development of the data sculpture. To create the effect of one single model with three separate datasets, the inner circle has three protruding sections that indicate the three individual datasets. They also add intricacy to the to the sculpture and to engage audience to view the inside and to peer through the holes in the surfaces.
These centre pieces are data driven and are used to further explain the data that is present in the vertical pieces. Each consists of a circle with three points protruding from it, which connect to the water line. At these points there are three options there can be one open hole; indicating to significant change happened to the data, or there may be several large holes or several small holes; these holes together represent a significant reduction in water use, when read vertically along one data line the holes drop from large to small representing a change from large water use to small water use. As the changes in water can be subtle this assists the viewer in recognising the largest change.
The inner circle of these middle sections also represents the 0 line, the base line for all of the graphs, which radiate out from the centre of the circle at 120 degree intervals. The sections that connect to the water graph create a visual segregation between the 3 separate data sets, while also combining the three for comparison.
Research And Data Sources
Sydney Catchment Authority Archives
At these archives the Sydney Catchment Authority provides the data on a daily basis of the dam levels, rainfall, and water that is supplied to the Sydney Metropolitan area. From this data source the data for the daily water supplied was collected for use in the final dataset.
Google News Archives
At Google news archives, I searched through the months that were located around the press release times, and used those sources valid to the Sydney Metropolitan area such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Age, and The Australian etc. Then view each of these articles and calculate their word count, this data was then tabulated for use in the final data set.
“Sydney’s water supply and the press” By S. Haertsch
This article written by Haertsch outlines News Articles from the Sydney area and the influences behind these articles. She provides several reasons for the news articles and discusses the tones and objectives of the news articles. She also created and appendix of the articles which she collected in relation to her study. This appendix of the articles and their word count as a reference for the final data set, as some of these articles were not available online.
Final Data Sculpture
The initial design idea required looking for a metaphor in order to explain the dataset’s story. Due to my data seemingly flowing along on their own courses until there is a press release and then they are connected and affect each other, then they continue along their own paths, this reminded me of water running through a stream. Where water travels along a path until it hits a rock and then there is a change, and then it continues along the path.
The design process in the lead up to the final data sculpture involved playing with the form of the falling vertical lines that represent the data. I was challenged during the design ideas presentation to create a piece that will cause the audience to look through and within the data sculpture. While I was examining the data to see what I could accentuate or explain, it came to me that in order to tell the story I felt that it was important to point out or accentuate the main reductions in water use.
I played with several methods for doing this within the Maya Modelling system. As I has decided to radiate the data out from a central point using 120 degrees to separate them the use of a circle as the central base line (where the values equal zero) was a logical choice.
I experimented using 14 central pieces to indicate the 14 separate days within the data, but this was unnecessary and cluttered the data. I therefore decided that I only needed the central pieces where I wanted to point out the story behind the data. These main reductions occurred on days five, six, seven, eight and nine. I also experimented with different forms of for these central pieces.
The design now consists of an open top and bottom where the data set seems to explode off out of the top of the data set. In a very naturalistic form, to reflect the water metaphor which I was attempting to convey.
Here are some Pictures of the final DataSculpture:
Technical Challenges or Difficulties Encountered
Throughout the design process there were many challenges including, using new programs, understanding the laser cutting system, creating an engaging model, and Perspex fragility.
Learning how to use new programs was a challenge that we all undertook, for me the process was challenging but rewarding. Throughout the production of my model I was forced to explore the functions of Rhino and learn how to use the program to conquer these issues, in majority through exploration and experimentation. This made it an incredibly challenging, however I felt a sense of achievement once the model was created. Modelling the vertical pieces in Maya on 120 degree axis made it difficult to keep the shape locked to a plane, this caused the shapes to become distorted and when it was transferred into rhino the surfaces could not be extruded unless the curves were planar. This was a challenge because without moving each individual vertex, which I couldn’t lock to a point I was unable to make the curve planar. This was fixed after Gabe taught me how to project a curve to a plane, this meant learning how to move the object, project the curve to the plane making it planar and then moving it back into it’s original position.
Another issue that I encountered while using Rhino was creating the notches to connect the individual pieces together. Because the pieces changed directions and angles this was a difficult task that took several attempts to achieve. It was hard to comprehend which was the best way to achieve notches in the end I decided to notch the water pieces correctly as they connected to the outer protrusions of the circles and would act as a stable connection for the entire model. The inner Article pieces which weave inside and outside the inner circles were a combination of a proper notch where the vertical pieces connect to the inner circle from the same direction as the water pieces, and a half notch where only the articles piece was cut to allow the pieces to join.
These notches also made a problem when it came time to cut, in several different ways; Because I created the model in rhino, and then moved the 2d shapes into AutoCAD, I decided to scale the image, however when I did this I neglected to realise that I was essentially doubling the size of the material that I needed to use, until I had already cut the layout using the 2mm Perspex. In order to fix this problem I could go back and reduce the size of the model by 50% (which meant having a model which was 15cm in height) and needing to remodel the notches within Rhino or I could cut the layout again using 4mm Perspex. After communicating with several people from the workshop including, Gabe, Anne, and Rick I decided that it would be more efficient to simply cut the model again.
The second difficulty with the notches was because at certain points these notches considerably weakened the Perspex and in several cases the Perspex snapped from this weakening. This could only be fixed by using superglue to fix the joins.
Add a Comment
About
© 2009 Created by Andrew on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of infostudio 2009 to add comments!
Join this Ning Network