Stonehouse - Hertzian Space

For the Transforming Stonehouse project we are now looking at how we can investigate the herztian space in our area to inform our final project.  This was an area that we covered last year for IDAT106 and now we are reviving it for this project so that we can look at it in a more cultural and social sense.  The use of Wifi and Bluetooth signals among others is ever increasing in the digital age, and this therefore is likely to lead to a change in society and the way we use the space around us. For a detailed overview of Hertzian Space go here:

http://beckyvidat106.blogspot.com/2009/03/field-beginning.html

The hertzian space and its uses also has an effect on us.  We use some element of the hertzian space such as wifi, mobile, and Bluetooth frequencies everyday to reach out beyond our physical location.  This extends our physical space and presence making contact easier and freer. For example when we turn the Bluetooth on on our phones, we are enlarging our personal space in one aspect to the radius of the Bluetooth signal.  Others can converse and connect with us from a distance, including those who we may not know, as long as they are within the extended radius created by the hertzian signal.

To find out more about our location in relation to Hertzian space we went down to Union street and logged the Bluetooth signals that we received.  The following is a visual mapping of this information with a list of the signals we found:

This map shows the hertzian space of the area in terms of the signals that we found.  However this information is not particularly accurate of the area in general as the signals we found were mainly those of other people in our group who were also looking for bluetooth signals in the area.  This therefore is not a good representation of the hertzian space that would usually exist in the area. It occurred to me during this task however that our location is quite well chosen as it is right next to a bus stop which means there is more likely hood of receiving signals such as Bluetooth at our location.

One idea I had in terms of implementing hertzian space into our project is to use the Bluetooth signals found for our projection.  Alike to the long exposure projection I suggested in a previous post, the words drawn on the floor could be those of the Bluetooth names in the area, rather than the word cloud concept.  Either that or messages could be sent to any Bluetooth signals in the area asking for a single word response to a question, for example.  These responses would then be drawn on the floor, demonstrating the feelings of the people in the area.  In either of these examples the hertzian space would be used to provide the data for the projection which would ensure it was incorporated into the project.