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This collection of souvenirs revolves around an image that has its hierarchy determined by the quality of each individuals experience represented through sound data. The image will use visual cues to activate the user’s memory as well as acting as promotional material for the festival.

It’s very easy to slap on a star review without really thinking. A more accurate way of evaluating a comedian’s performance is how much they can get the audience to laugh. Laughter can be quantified relatively easily through decibel levels. The decibel level will be affected by both the quantity and intensity of laughter which correlates relatively accurately to enjoyment levels and quality of the show. If more people are laughing more frequently than the average decibel level will be far higher than only a few people laughing occasionally. This will be represented on your personal experience image.

As the audience arrives to each venue and has their ticket scanned, they are automatically checked into the event and will have the audio recording data added to their online profile. The data is collected by recording the audience and converting the audio file into numerical data (decibel levels). The data is moderated to account for the audience size and is then used to scale the respective shows graphics proportionally. At the end of the festival you will receive an email with a visual representation of your experience. You are given an opportunity to have your image printed onto a range of products including posters, post cards, drink bottles, and phone cases. Giving people an option to choose a souvenir that they actually want will greatly reduce the wastage that is inevitably created from using the one ‘size fits all’ approach to souvenirs. This system also allows people to look at their data, remember their experience, and share it with others without needing to manufacture an unwanted artefact.

Being able to collect and analyse data instantly means that these ‘real reviews’ can be displayed around Edinburgh and help guide people to see things they otherwise might not have. It also encourages healthy competition between the performers and has the potential to create better atmospheres in venues.

This process brings the word of mouth to the digital age, which is great news for up and coming performers. Although a performer may initially have small crowds it rewards them for making people laugh and may in tern help them get the respect they deserve.

Digital Chinese whispers explores the translation of a traditional making process to digital fabrication. The experiment uses an iterative process as a device to explore the relationship between an artifact and its material. In this case, clay throwing and 3D printing were combined to create a new and exciting process. Throwing clay is one of the most hands on and skill dependent forms of making. Digital fabrication on the other hand is automated and can be completed with minimal knowledge of the process. Although ceramics are often seen to have a more premium finish than plastics, 3D printing, like all other forms of fabrication has its own characteristics which should be celebrated. Scanning and printing repeatedly allows for a form of digital evolution. Each process has its own glitches and idiosyncrasies which is then translated through iterations.

We have certain expectations of what characteristics materials will lend a form. What happens when we break it? Reproducing an artifact in another material often drastically changes the impact it has on the user.

Having a material in front of you that you can mold, change, shape, and reshape with real time and real-world feedback simply does not exist in the digital world. Similarly, the ability that digital methods have to instantly analyze and reproduce with immense accuracy is astonishing and unchallenged. Combining the two opposing methods was full of potential.

Altering parameters of scanners and printers provided a wider scope of results and gave glimpses of what may come from repeating the process multiple times. The more abstract outcomes often resulted from faster print settings and lower resolution scans as things were picked up or missed which gave the object the chance to evolve. Even the most subtle changes of texture or material between prints made you revalue the whole artifact. Furthering these experiments, I would delve deeper into the curious world of materiality and exploring the relationship between artifacts and their material.