Mapping in a Creative Way

---This American Life: Mapping


For me, it is new that one of the class assignments is listening to an article from radio program. The article, This American Life: Mapping, introduced a new definition of the word map to us. I am interested in this article in that I am always curious about new concepts and new applications of traditional concepts. As a matter of fact, when I read the title at first I thought mapping was nothing new but a common thing in our lives. However, my attention was attracted when I saw Mapmaking means ignoring everything in the world but the one thing being mapped. I realized that I have never noticed the nature of a map. Then I clicked to listen and finished the listening.

This essay conveys an optimistic attitude towards creation by telling stories about people who make the maps by using five senses. Although we are very familiar with the maps and the way that people produce regular maps by drawing things we can see. We may not ever think about there are maps of sounds, smells, tastes and interesting sights in this world. Denis Wood made a series maps of his own neighborhood using different sights. One of his maps is an image of the stars and the sky, which if you were lie down in a summer’s night, you would see. I like this map because it makes me feel very warm and remind me of Andersen’s fairy tales. Another group of people map the world with smell. Their electronic nose can analyze the ingredients of the gas which is similar with what our noses do when we smell something. It is apparently that the electronic noses are much less sensitive because human noses have far more sensors. It may take at least ten years to become available for consumers because of the complicated techniques and high cost. But mapping with smell is a brand new way of knowing about our world. They are creative artists by doing so.

Since I don’t have too much experience in artistic creation, I think the information and ideas from this article is valuable for me. The imagination and creation in mapping the world in five senses encourage me to open my mind in exploration the relationship between us and our surroundings. In most situations, the artistic creation is emerged from an artist’s thinking about the traditional subjects in a new way. Therefore, I think the first step of creation is to attempt new ways when achieve a conventional task.

Learn to listen

Soundwalk response


Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?

Yes, we went to the Downer Woods and heard different sounds. I think that woods, beach and mountain are very suitable environment for listening to both natural sounds and manmade sounds at the same time.

Was it possible to move without making a sound?

Technically, I think it is impossible for me. Because sound is vibration transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas. We can’t move without making vibration. But we can try to reduce or avoid the transmission of unwanted sounds.

What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?

When I plugged my ears, it was the silence first, but then I could hear the sounds of my finger joints movement and the rubs between my palms and face. I could hear them very clearly compared to the chaotic sounds before I plugged my ears.

In your sound log exercise, what types of sounds were you able to hear? List them. Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place? Human sounds? Mechanical sounds? Natural sounds?

I could differentiate most sounds including human sounds, mechanical sounds and natural sounds in the woods:

Human sounds:

We stepped on the branches and leaves in the floor making a light cracking sound.

Mechanical sounds:

the sharp roll of the aircraft

vehicles rolling on the roads around the woods

Natural sounds:

insects: buzz of bees and chirr of cicadas

chirp of birds

Branches were shaking and the leaves rubbing together because of the breeze.

But there were sounds I could not place:

I was not sure if someone opened and closed the door in somewhere.

When I walked back to the buildings (Klotsche Center), I heard:

we were kicking at the rocks on the road / somebody was yelling / claps in the tennis field / music in Sandburg Hall / balls hit the floor and the net / a babble of voices in the hall / when we went through the stairs, the shoes hit the floor making different sounds / some insects or water were making sounds in the tunnel /air conditioner or lightening system makes noise from ceiling / a revolving-door that students need to show the ID and then get in / stuff were rubbing each other in a girl’s bag / something fell down to the floor outside the building

Were you able to detect subtleties in the everpresent drone?

Yes, I was able to notice the buzz of the bees and flies around me. Actually, once I unplugged my ears, I could differentiate sounds.

Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?

There are sounds which are closer like the buzz of bees, although in a very low volume. For the chug of the engine, it is far away but it is in a high volume and sharp.

What kinds of wind effects were you able to detect (for example, the leaves of trees don't make sounds until they are activated by the wind)?

We were surrounded by many trees. I could feel the sounds of leaves and branches rubbing together. And then I heard the sounds of leaves falling down the floor.

Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?

Yes, we tried to listen to the sound of a quarter falling into the parking meter.

Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?

I recognize that the sounds which we hear everyday are a group of different sounds including human sounds, mechanical sounds and natural sounds. Many natural sounds are actually very interesting. But most of the natural sounds are difficult to detect because they need certain natural conditions and usually are in very low volume. And the noises like the mechanical sounds are often in pretty high volume.

How do you think your Soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?

I am not sure. But I am vey glad that I recognize the diversity of sounds in our surroundings. The first Soundwalk class provides me effective instructions of documenting the sounds and experience.

Hi......

Hi. This is my research blog. I will post my experience in sound recording and film making here.