Keywords: world music, geography, didactic games

Date: October - November 2003

PHYSICAL COMPUTING

Music of the world

With Beliz Demircioglu.

Description: a plastic globe with different red leds pointing out places in the world.

Aim: to develop an interactive installation that would teach about the music that is typical of different parts of the world providing immediate geographical reference to the music that is being played.

Target: primarily children, but it could be of interest for adults as well. It could be part of a museum installation.

Materials: a plastic beach ball with the globe printed on it, two plexiglass bowls, wire mesh, foam, LEDs, circuitry, 5 MP3 tracks, a PC.

Technology: BasicX-24 microcontroller and the software Girder to control WinAmp from the BX24.

Physical Interface: Two plexiglass bowls put one against the other hold the structure of the interface. A double layer of foam pads plates of wire mesh located under specific regions of the globe and act as switches when they touch. The plastic globe wraps everything and holds five red LEDs pinned to the five continents showing hotspots where actions can be triggered. The circuitry is hidden inside the bowls and is connected serially to a PC.

Operation: Five red LEDs blink to point out hot spots on the globe. Exercising pressure with the hand on the parts of the world indicated by the lights, a wire mesh switch requests WinAmp to play a music track corresponding to that region on the PC communicating serially with the microcontroller, the LED corresponding to that area of the globe goes solid and the other four go off. When the track stops playing, all of them start blinking again.