You are here:
Village Blue Public Outreach of Water Quality Sensor Data Using Reactive Artwork
Citation:
Lindquist, Alan, G. Norris, AND K. Oshima. Village Blue Public Outreach of Water Quality Sensor Data Using Reactive Artwork. IRIS Ignite 2022, Cincinnati, OH, May 25 - 26, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This is to be presented at the Institute for Research in Sensors (IRIS) Ignite 2022, their annual event.
Description:
Water sensors output data as electronic signals in a variety of formats. Even when these data are converted to numeric form, tables, or graphs, they can be difficult for communities to understand. To make the sensor information more accessible, sensor signals have been integrated with art displays, frequently sculpture and light installations. These artworks use a variety of ways to change in response to sensor data outputs. They are also frequently designed to represent characteristics of the local environment or ecosystem, targeting symbols of environmental quality, or representing other messages that may have local ecological or cultural significance. The Environmental Protection Agency has also developed sculptures to display water sensor data. EPA’s efforts have included Village Blue projects. The first, in Baltimore was a sensor for general water quality parameters on the mouth of the Jones Falls River where it empties into the inner harbor of Baltimore. One of the community organizations participating in the Village Blue project, sponsored a competition to create an art installation that would display one of the parameters being measured. The winning project was a reactive sculpture which changed color and pulsed in response to changes in the sensor output for dissolved oxygen, and EPA collaborated with the sculpture to ensure correct data input. The second iteration of the Village Blue project is ongoing in Lake Pontchartrain. This project began with the intention of creating a reactive sculpture. The sculpture is based around a fish, and displays multiple parameters of water quality, from both a nearby sensor, and a sensor located further away in the Mississippi river. The sculpture has a variety of lights and motions to indicate the turbidity, salinity, dissolved oxygen, algae concentration, WIFI connection and the data source. This sculpture has been well received by the community and is currently on display at a lighthouse museum on the southern shore of the lake.