PAY AT T E N T I O N

RACHAEL POPE

PAY AT T E N T I O N
RACHAEL POPE

A Thesis submitted in partial fulllment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Communications Design. Pratt Institute May 2013 Chairman Professor Jeff Bellantoni _____________________________ Advisor Jean Brennan _____________________________

CONTENTS
PA RT 1 setting the stage 8 a n e w m e d i u m 10 s c a t t e r e d a t t e n t i o n 11 PA RT 2 d e f i n i n g a t t e n t i o n a s a c u r r e n c y 14 f i n i t e 16 m a n a g e m e n t 17 PA RT 3 d e f i n i n g k i n e s t h e t i c s 25 p h y s i c a l p r o b l e m s o l v i n g 26 d r a w i n g c o n n e c t i o n s 28 m o t i v 30 c o n t r e x p e r i e n c e 31 k i n e s t h e t i c s w r a p u p 32 PA RT 4 k i n e s t h e t i c s a n d m u s i c 37 m u s i c a l e d u c a t i o n a n d i t s s i g n i f i c a n c e 38 v i s u a l p r o j e c t d e t a i l s 39 f i n a l t h o u g h t s 40

WELCOME

Attention is our currency and in our contemporary lives, it is poorly managed. On an average day, any randomly selected person from the modern world is using some type of digital medium, namely a smart phone, computer, or tablet. The digital landscape that we frequent has changed our perceptions of our physical world, making our attention spans shorter and our desires to multitask, stronger. Unlike in previous eras, in our digital age, there are no physical boundaries to guide our undertakings. We then are left without structures to manage our attention and a culture in which people cannot concentrate on any one task without changing tabs, checking their email or sending a text. We are unable to sustain our focus and our ability to retain information is diminished. Therefore, our eeting interest is even more valuable due to its paucity. How then can attention be managed in this tangential environment? By kinesthetically engaging ourselves in the digital landscape we can integrate physical movements into our digital work, honing our attention and minimizing fragmentation.

PART 1

THE MEDIUM

MES
S E T T I N G T H E S TA G E
Marshall McLuhan, author of Understanding Media, among many other works, is well known for his famous idea: the medium is the message. The phrase argues that it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action1 rather than the information being processed through it. McLuhan argues that much of what shapes our culture has very little to do with the content being ltered through a medium but instead the medium, itself. Speed, the audience, and method of delivery are all dictated by the medium and in turn this affects our behavior. Furthermore, since our media are extensions of ourselves, any study of one medium helps us to understand all the others and ourselves more clearly. The mediums described by McLuhan are unlike the mediums of today, however. Mediums such as the book, radio, even the airplane, remain in the physical world in respect to the fact that they exist within a linear timeline, steering the user according to its given

IS THE

SAGE
marshall mcluhan
set of rules. All three technologies are human extensions in the forms of communication and speed, which follow suit with exactly what McLuhan proposed technology achieved. What McLuhan failed to predict was a medium without structure, and the inltrating impact it would have on its audience. While he accurately observed that a new medium is never an addition to an old one, nor does it leave the old one in peace, 2 the digital era has expanded the crucial concept of what a medium is and can contribute. Today, media are not simply extensions of ourselves, but instead they interact with us. They do not simply happen to us, but instead reciprocally communicate information deleted, commented upon, discussed, et cetera. Our attention is demanded to add to the conversation, rather than simply following the path provided by the medium.

A NEW MEDIUM
The digital medium delivers a message at lightening speed to a global audience. It allows the communications playing eld to be leveled because almost anyone can contribute, whereas in previous eras, advertising and more far-reaching forms of communications were reserved for people in power. It is a collaborative landscape where the extensions of our selves can interact, change and be redened. Open source software is a collaborative endeavor to create superior software platforms, where anyone can help develop code that is both public and editable. However, while digital media provides a positive platform for collaborative change, the darker side to this is that there are virtually no requirements to contribute. The barrier of entry is low online, making it possible for anything and everything to be added and forced upon the user. Advertisers are notorious for using and abusing this medium, creating email threads, pop-up ads and unwanted text messages. It is also being used to target people in subversive ways. While ads have long depended on a technique of spreading their message as far and as wide as possible to reach as many people as possible, in the digital realm there is no need. Targeted ads reach users based on personal online searches. To the user it might seem like a well-timed ad that pertains to their interests, but in reality it is a strategic advertising campaign. While there is nothing truly wrong with this approach, it feels like an invasive and sneaky way to advertise that utilizes personal preferences. But why do advertisers go to such lengths? The digital medium is so strained with the amount of overall information offered that the users do not even give attention to the ads that should attract them. Instead, users dont invest their attention into anything for very long. They learn to invest as little time as possible on each page, 3 averaging approximately 10-20 seconds per page because their attention is constantly being interrupted. A current example, are iPhone apps. Apps are plentiful and unique in their own regard, and while they have high initial interest and engagement, long term participation and user retention is difcult. Rather than continuing to pay equal attention to an increased amount of information, users have just adjusted to the new norm of an information overload where their entire digital environment is over stimulated and nothing requires a long-term investment. The ination of information available allows users to be more skeptical with their ventures and more ighty with long-term investments.

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S C AT T E R E D AT T E N T I O N
Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, builds on McLuhans theory by saying that not only is the medium the message, but that each medium carries with it an intellectual ethic by which it teaches people how to behave. Carr argues that the medium, specically the digital medium, promotes a scattered attention, which is the type of thinking that technology encourages and rewards,4 through hyperlinks and constant interruptions. Carr argues that by combining many different kinds of information on a single screen, the multimedia Net further fragments content and disrupts our concentration,5 thus reinforcing the idea that distractions and altered attention spans are the new norms in the digital age. While, our attention is adjusted to navigate in a digital world, we also end up preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively, and rather emphasize processing bits of information quickly. We are avid power-browsers and multi-taskers yet its a completely surface behavior that has been created to survive the digital landscape. The problem is that this behavior extends beyond the digital and into the physical realm. The majority of our interactions are dictated by the unspoken digital rules created by this medium. Our interactions are limited and supercial and our time, fragmented. We are never only performing one task and instead, while out with friends we are also checking email, texting, and catching up on the news. We have learned to live unstructured lives, leading to the perpetuation of a fragmented attention that overows into the physical world. While Nicholas Carr argues that our attention is currently led toward fragmentation, our pre-digital lives were traditionally reinforced by the structure of physical mediums. If our attentions are being so fragmented that even in the physical world our lives are altered and unable to sustain focus, then how do we go about modifying that behavior? Furthermore, what are the ramications of a fragmented attention in the physical world?

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PART 2

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D E F I N I N G AT T E N T I O N AS A CURRENCY
Yankelovich, a marketing research rm, found that we view up to 5,000 ads a day, as compared to slightly over 500 a day in 1971. The amount of ads we view daily aptly reects the degree to which our attention is sought. In comparison to their predecessors, current ads rely heavily on emotional appeal and are strongly image-driven. Advertisers realize that no one will take the time or attention bandwidth to read lengthy ads as in previous eras. The hope is to quickly grab the viewers attention at a core emotional level that is difcult to ignore by using imagery. While using imagery sends a quick, strong message, we also are in danger of losing information and a deep understanding of what we are supporting. Without context and details surrounding imagery, the pictures are subjective and offer little accompanying concrete information. Supporting a product or service may not be for tangible reasons, but simply because the advertisement spoke to the viewer on a personal level. It is too easy to offer our attention to something with very little context or information. Facebook and Twitter offer good examples of allowing the individual to bid on attention. By liking a status or retweeting an article, attention has been received and noted. A tweet made in 2011 by Newt Gingrich said he [had] six times as many Twitter followers as all the other current GOP presidential hopefuls combined. 6 The subtext here is that because of the amount of followers and their attention, Gingrich has, he is more liked and valued than his opponents, giving him more credibility and reason to be nominated. The idea that Gingrich is more credible because he has more followers is not a linear conclusion, but with attention as a currency, that is the conclusion met by most. Attention is a valuable commodity at every turn because capturing it denes the products value and reputation. However, attention is not easily attainable, especially in our visually oversaturated world. The number of twitter followers or ads views do not guarantee retention or support because numbers dont tell the whole story. Author and graphic designer, Jessica Helfand, notes that digital media relies heavily on quantiable numbers which lack quality results. While tools like RescueTime exist, which track productivity, Michael Nagle from MIT Technology Review, notes that they dont monitor intention, meaning that the reasons behind visiting those sites still remain hidden. In other words, was the website visited out of real interest or was it merely for procrastinating? Intention is crucial because if attention wasnt engaged, then advertising or friending them didnt actually add any real value. So even the attention you might garner could be for the wrong reasons. Furthermore, where the attention comes from makes a difference as well. A German magazine, Merkur, stated:
We evaluate the attention we catch not only according to the duration and concentration of its expenditure, but also according to our own esteem for the person from whom we receive it. Attention coming from people we admire is most precious; it is valuable coming from those we esteem; it counts little coming from people towards whom we are indifferent; and attention may even assume a negative value coming from people we despise or fear.

Despite the old adage that any attention is good attention, in a time when attention rules as the dominant currency, this is debatable. Negative attention, as pointed out by Merkur, has a negative value and actually dissuades positive attention and thus value and a positive repute from being attracted. Athletes that are caught doping or in other scandals are quickly dropped from contracts because companies dont want them associated with their products, attracting negative attention and thus a reduction in sales. News travels fast in the digital landscape and attention its even quicker. Attention is important to understand because it affects what is considered important on a global scale. For the individual, attention is the most valuable commodity that can be offered. Learning to treat attention as a currency is essential in the digital era because it will redene how it is managed.

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A d I n f i l t r a t i o n , Ti m e s S q u a r e

15

FINITE
Our attention is nite. Despite our best efforts in multi-tasking, there is only so much we can give our attention to in an effective manner. John Hagel accurately notes that as products and information proliferate, attention becomes the scarce resource we each have only 24 hours in the day. 7 The attention committed to any activity takes time and thus choosing what is important enough for our attention is essential to successfully complete our daily tasks. However, while our attention may be limited, we attempt to compensate for it by creating a digital presence. By belonging to online groups, subscribing to feeds, liking statuses, and even sending emails time stamped for later, we can remain active participants sans attention. In response to this, Linda Stone developed the term, continuous partial attention which looks at the top level item in focus and scans the periphery in case something more important emerges. Continuous partial attention is motivated by a desire not to miss opportunities. 8 Adding to this, continuous partial attention is also motivated by a desire to remain a part of the community even when our attention budget is limited. Although our attention is nite, by participating in groups with a partial focus we are attempting to make our presence go further. In the digital world, there are ways to extend its limited nature and we are eager to do so because we understand its value in relation to our xed time. Users must come to a collective realization that a continuous partial attention doesnt help us perform better or learn more but instead adds to the chaos of our daily experiences. Attention cannot be dened as it once was, but should be redened as a limited resource that is time-dependent. As McLuhan states, technological media are staples or natural resources, exactly like coal and cotton and oil.9 Attention too belongs in this category and the sooner it is recognized as exhaustible resource, the closer we will be to understanding how to effectively manage it in our digital landscape.

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MANAGEMENT
Learning to manage attention can be one of the most benecial tools in making it go further and utilizing it to its fullest. Nicholas Carr notes:
The internet, as its proponents rightly remind us, makes for variety and convenience; it does not force anything upon you. Only it turns out it doesnt feel like that at all. We dont feel as if we had freely chosen our online practices. We feel instead that they are habits we have helplessly picked up or that history has enforced, that we are not distributing our attention as we intend or even like to. 10

Carr rightly notes that while the internet seems like a very passive activity, habits are continuously being formed and the way in which our attention is guided along. Understanding of how to manage our attention currency has yet to be developed. When we open a browser, even if we begin with one idea of what we would like to explore, it seldom ends at the bottom of the page. Instead, we are linked here, forwarded there, tweeted at, etc. Our desire to be interrupted because of the stimulation it provides, takes precedence over our desire to manage our attention effectively. Tools such as ad blockers, invisibility chat settings, phone silencing methods and even

article readability converters have been created in an attempt to combat these distractions. However, they are optional and most people will not use them regularly because we have quickly learned to crave the engagement. Creating a built-in management option that is part of every action would be ideal, so that choosing whether or not to be engaged wouldnt be a hurdle to overcome. This could look like using browsers tools that limit the amount of information we are given within a specic window or built-in timers, guided by the users eye that dont allow the page to change until the entire article is read. More importantly, we need to have a better understanding of where our attention is going and what it means to invest attention. We can no longer haphazardly engage because attention is a crucial player in shaping the digital landscape. Furthermore, while it appears that it costs very little to seamlessly move between different activities and pages, by continually reinforcing fragmentation, we make it more difcult to engage deeply in one thing without seeking interruptions.

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PART 3

3
19

SCREEN-BASED MEDIA EMPHASIZES INTERRUPTED ACTIVITY

20

Referring again to Jessica Helfands essay, Sensory Montage, she notes how screen-based media emphasizes interrupted activity. Most importantly, she discusses that the amputations of our senses through digital media send a falsely compelling signal11 of the world around us. In other words, our experiences with digital media are incomplete and do not represent real life situations because we need our senses to fully engage to fully perceive the larger extent. In an effort to bridge the gap between the digital and the physical worlds, can movement be used as an integral piece of our digital space as a tool to re-center our attention? Movement could ultimately aid in creating a more authentic space, representing something closer to the physical world and while simultaneously reinforcing a more structured attention. In the digital context, could kinesthetics be re-envisioned as an approach to learning and doing? Specically, can we develop a way of contextually learning from our environment?

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C u n n i n g h a m s A n t i c M e e t , 1 9 5 8

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DEFINING KINESTHETICS
Kinesthesia is dened as the sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints. Susan Klein, founder of The Klein Technique and the Klein School of Movement and Dance describes kinesthetic as:
My idea of kinesthetics is concerned with the concept of experiencing, with a high degree of sensitivity, what we are doing, bringing to consciousness the precision and understanding of how the body is moving as a whole and how the parts exist in relationship to each other. For me kinesthetics is not dealing with the sensations of movement or how the body feels, but rather with the active search, through attention and sensitivity, to where the body is in space and how the body connects in relationship to itself. Kinesthetics is related to my idea that there is a body-felt understanding, an internal knowing that can be developed in the same way we develop or ne tune our other external senses; sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.12

Klein has spent her life studying and developing the body and has made some interesting and poignant observations and in the process has pinpointed the holistic concept of kinesthetics. Movement brings a consciousness of the whole body with it, rather than moving just for movings sake. Furthermore, it engages our attention and thus our mental capacity. As with kinetic learning, movement retells and translates a narrative into its physical counterpart. The following case studies demonstrate the signicance of movement in learning and how it can apply to our digital lives.

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P H Y S I C A L P R O B L E M - S O LV I N G
Many recent studies have been done regarding the connection between physical movement and cognition. Jonathan Stephen Fantazier recently suggested in a paper titled, Physical Problem-Solving: Using Kinematics and Kinesthetics to Improve Mathematics, that the way algebra is currently being taught is abstracted in both content and format. Because of this, students do not fully understand the material and therefore are uninterested in it. Kinetic learning, a process by which something is taught through the process of doing, is not a new concept, and yet is a relatively unimplemented practice in most curriculums. Fantazier suggests that by using movement as an engagement tool, kids can be taught algebra as easily as learning to tap their feet. Fantazier cites Jean Piaget, a famous childrens psychologist who promoted awareness of individual childrens psychological and physical development. Piaget states in The Invention of Means Through Mental Combinations:
It is my main contention that what students really learn best, from anything that they study, are those concepts and skills that are rst attained in what we call Ah-ha moments. Something is being worked over in the mind of a student or discussed by a student and suddenly the epiphany strikes by some neurological synchronization. Such synchronized brain activity seems to come up most when different parts/acts of our minds are active at the same time.

Piagets observations support the idea of kinetic learning and the process of engaging more than one part of the brain at a time, showing that it can be a helpful tool in learning conceptual material. More importantly, Fantazier implies that by physically engaging the algebraic principles, students will overcome the abstraction of the material and this will only increase the holistic understanding of it. This points to the connection between physical movement and conceptual thinking. While this study is strongly theory based with little implementation and execution in the classroom, the reasoning and support offered is sufcient to demonstrate that learning through doing engages multiple senses at once, helping to absorb information more fully and maintain interest and thus attention.

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Motiv

Contrexperience

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D R AW I N G C O N N E C T I O N S I O N S
While Fantazier suggests kinesthetics as a means for more deeply understanding mathematical principles, it can also be used as a means for problem solving. In a study conducted at Columbia University, researchers looked at how drawing and sketching could be applied as a multi-disciplinary practice for problem solving larger ideas. Based largely on the idea of understanding the roles that visualization and perception play in conceptual thinking, the study focuses on scientically demonstrating how our capacities for abstract reasoning and logic are dependent on sensory input 13 and specically physical movement. Citing that human brains knit together a functionally unied version of a stable external reality 14 through our perceptions, the study nds that drawing aids in our conceptual understanding of the world around us. Furthermore, perception and conceptual understanding are not only intimately bound, but are, in a sense, the same capacity, where meaning and thought emerge from our capacities for perception, object manipulation, and bodily movement.15 In other words, perception and conceptual understanding affect one another equally. Without the ability to perceive our surrounding through our senses, our abilities for conceptual thinking are diminished. Problem solving by physical mapping our idea generation engages our touch sense and our bodily selves, activating another piece of our brains. Furthermore, by being forced to fully think through each idea, at the speed at which we can sketch, it forces us to go deeper with each individual idea and allows us the time needed to fully digest and work through it at as slower pace rather than simply moving quickly through an idea, supercially. Sketching then activates our conceptual thinking to generate better solutions, faster. By limiting our sensory engagement in a digital arena, we limit our abilities to perceive and thus our conceptual capacities to generate understanding. This study not only demonstrates the ability to problem solve through physical movement but also the power of engaging multiple senses. Put simply, the internal awareness and movement of our bodies, and our gestures, those ill-dened yet surprisingly essential hand movements that accompany speech, help us navigate through concepts and understandings not yet completely within our grasp. 16 Could implementing movement into our mainly cognitive activities not only help us to navigate mentally challenging situations, but also quite literally reestablishes a structure for our attention? Drawing and sketching engage eye to hand coordination as well as the thought process associated with it. In the midst of unscrambling a problem, when more than one sense is engaged, is there less room for distraction?

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MOTIV
Drawing Connections takes one piece of the body to demonstrate the signicance between body and mind. Motiv, a thesis project developed by Russell Machmeyer at the School of Visual Arts, engages the entire body in a whole new way to perform digital music. The project takes pre-composed music and allows the user to control the tempo, intensity and note velocities in the piece through the users bodily movement. Motiv tracks the users movements through Microsofts Kinetic device, allowing expression to dictate the composition, rendering slightly different variations each time the music is played. This allows more attention to be given to the users emotional expression, through their movements, rather than on whether or not the notes are correct. In other words, there is a direction translation from organic physical movements into emotional expression generating an immediate change in the music. This project allows the physicality and emotionality of music to be equally important as the musical notes themselves. Rather than fracturing our attention, Motiv incorporates physical movements into our concentration, allowing a direct and instantaneous reward to be heard through the music. Unlike the reinforcement we receive from a fractured attention online, Motiv gives us immediate rewards in the form of differentiated sound encouraged and rewarded through a focused attention and an engagement of the corporeal. Motiv utilizes site, sound, movement and cognitive functions, minimizing the threat of our attention dispersing to virtually zero. By allowing the cognitive and corporeal aspects of self to be equal decision makers in where our attention is placed, Motiv makes it more difcult for our attention to be lost and encourages creativity in the process.

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CONTREXPERIENCE
Unlike the previous case studies, Contrexperience is a physical interaction that looks at a united attention. Contrexperience is an interactive advertising campaign developed as a way to rethink a weight loss water product. Stationary bicycles were placed in a city center for passersby to ride. The bikes were attached to LED lights strung vertically onto a building as well as a music set up. As people cycled, the energy created from peddling illuminated the LED lights and the music began to play. When the LEDs lights where all alit, they created an LED male stripper who slowly removes each piece of clothing. When all of his digital clothes were removed, he hides, behind a building only coming out to reveal that the cyclists have burned 2,000 calories. While Contrexperience is a campaign attempting to change the conceptions about a brand of water, it engages random people in a physical activity in a public space. The previous case studies highlighted the individuals movements through individual attention. Contrexperience highlights a united attention amongst a group through individual physical movements that when enacted together, contributes to the entire installation. The physical expression of their motion is expressed through the amalgamation of their energies in the stripper cowboy as well as the music. The stripper is a visual and sound representation of their combined physical movement. Each persons attention has to be engaged to ensure that the whole is successful. Ironically, their attention is displaced from the public act of peddling and onto what they are watching. The realization of how hard they are exercising means little in the equation. Instead, they are focused on the stripper and the group experience, which makes the surprise of learning that they have burned 2,000 calories even more fun at the end. This case study demonstrates the power of engaging a group in a public space. Encouraging individuallyfocused attention is important, but the impact of a united attention amongst a group adds another dimension suggesting the power of the collective. autetur, quam a quo dolectem quam

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KINESTHETICS WRAP UP
Through the cases presented above, there is a clear connection between the corporeal and the cognitive not only in engaging our attention, but also in enhancing understanding and focus. By using kinesthetics, we can rebuild our attention currency and adding elements of physical engagement to our digital actions, we can offer more valuable and time-worthy experiences. The physical world is structured by certain rules, such as the speed at which we can draw or how quickly our bodies can move and develop a muscle memory. This thesis contends that in coupling the physical laws with the open-ended digital realm, we can provide a structure to help us manage our attention more productively and acutely. We can reclaim our focus and redene the digital intellectual ethic to afrm a collected attention. While we cannot revisit the analog ages, by kinesthetically engaging ourselves in the digital landscape, we can integrate physical movements into our digital work to minimize fragmentation.

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PART 4

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KINESTHETICS and MUSIC

It is now necessary to dene the differences between conventional physical activities and engaging the digital with our bodies. By conventional, I mean movements that are performed in our daily lives, which do not require a digital medium to aid in our engagement. Obviously the argument could be made that having a digital component is superuous, regardless. However, including it as a central component in this project acknowledges that we are entering further into the digital world, which will not be going away, and tries to maintain some balance in our still very physical world. There is a ne line here of using technology to help us perform tasks better and engaging in tasks whatsoever. Engaging in the digital world with our bodies differs in that how we can physically engage in our digital lives that makes it a) different from simply moving our body in the world around us where the digital enhances our lives and b) helps us to sustain our attention for longer periods of time and attain more of the information learnt. An ideal subject to demonstrate these concepts would be a discipline that engages the mind and body simultaneously. Thus, my visual project attempts to translate concepts of music into a visual and bodily experience. There is a reason that hearing music engages our physical selves and makes us want to move to the rhythms generated. Music has a magnetic and sometimes serious effect on our minds. As Oliver Sacks notes in his book, Musicophilia, there is no biological signicance for music, as it does not satisfy any of our basic needs, however every culture has some type of music and they can become so engrained in our memories that they stay with us our whole lives being remembered almost perfectly, years later. In more scientic terms, according to Neuroscientist Lawrence Parsons, listening to music, even as a passive activity, engages our entire nervous system evoking memories and expectations during our listening experience. Furthermore, The Sports Journal found that when athletes areclosely matched in ability, music has the potential to elicit a small but signicant effect on performance. (Karageorghis & Terry, 1997) Music naturally produces a dualistic response from the mind and body of its user and thus is an ideal vessel for exploring this new realm of 3D virtual reality. Music of course affects our minds and bodies, but recent studies also have shown that, early exposure to music through games and songs showed and IQ advantage of 10-20 points. 17 Professors at Northwestern University took these ndings even further demonstrating that college students with musical training had more acute auditory skills and were able to read more quickly. These studies demonstrate how music can enhance our tools for interacting with the outside world. People who engaged with musical learning had more attuned skills for hearing and translating the subtleties of words. Music not only trains the mind to think in a certain manner, but the act of learning music also acts as an auditory tness workout for the mind. 18 So music engages both the body and mind making for a more holistic intelligence.

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M U S I C A L E D U C AT I O N and its SIGNIFICANCE

While music is a multidimensional entity affecting every piece of our being, it is symbolized through a very limiting, two-dimensional notation system. Dennis Bathory-Kitsz states that for clarity and exactitude and imagination, the traditional notation system is broken 19 meaning that the specifying symbolic quality at a certain point detracts and limits the expressive aspect of the music itself. Current notation requires emotional indicators to be extraneously added to the notes themselves, negates any cultural nuances, and minimizes the physical expressiveness of playing an instrument. Furthermore, seeing a note does not recall the sound immediately to a new players mind. Likening music to a language, this system is equivalent to teaching kids the alphabet before they learn to speak. By relying on our physical beings, the expressive quality of music can be reengaged. Could the bridge between a traditional notation system be adapted to engage the interest of all potential musicians through physical expression in the digital form? There is an untapped arena and strong possibility of developing a learning process that is akin to the music itself rather than translating sound and emotionality through a two-dimensional structure. This system would rely on a more instinctual method of playing, integrating the mind and body into one unit. Involving more of the body in the music lessens the inclination towards distraction. Thus my project aims to rethink the visualization of music into one that integrates our physical actions into sounds and notes that respond instantaneously with those movements. My intention through this project is not for students to learn actual songs but rather to explore music. Simply to reiterate, I intend to increase retention and comprehension rates and provide a deeper understanding through an individual experimentation.

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V I S U A L P R O J E C T D E TA I L S
Rethinking the visualization of music is not a new concept. Notations 21, a collection of experimental notation systems, features a variety of scores to visualize music and sound. However, rethinking music which highlights the importance of movement and how that is incorporated in the digital realm is new, simply because we are just beginning to enter virtual reality in a very real way. Brian Eno developed an Ambient Creation Music application, which creates a digital landscape, where elements of sound can be brought together and interact intelligently with one another. Enos creation allows the user to bypass a formalized notation system and allows them to develop melodies based on their own intuition and taste, allowing the control to be centrally placed in the users hands. Weve already seen how important music can be for mental development and the long-term effects it can have on the mind. Incorporating the digital aspect into re-envisioning music will make it more accessible and integrated into physical movements. To do this, I have developed a notation system based on a combination of an ancient Egyptian notation system, from the 5th century CE, and a visually appealing color system. The Egyptian notation system was based on a set of circles that would change color and size depending on the pitch and how loudly or softly they were played. By utilizing colors and sizes, this notation system was intuitive and depended on basic elements to describe its properties. For my project, colors will uniquely correspond to each of the notes on a scale. Originally, I had looked into using Newtons color coded notations system as well as a mathematically derived color system which corresponds to the exact sound, however, I nally decided that visually speaking, the colors could be somewhat arbitrary as long as they remained constant. Using these colors and shapes I created a digital kit for musical exploration using Mircosofts Kinect, called Kinect with the Music. This kit translates physical movements into a sound shapes on a screen. The notes, as we know them, interact in real time, changing size and color as they are played by the users physical movements. The conceptual idea behind the musical kit is to provide an explorative and interesting way for children or new music learners to understand basic ideas of pitch, volume and rhythm. Learning these elements early will begin to hone the basic listening and recognition skills. Each of the three qualities listed will have a set of corresponding physical triggers, which will dictate how the user will move to indicate changes in pitch and volume. This system can be incorporated with other types of musical education to demonstrate the effectiveness of movement in the digital realm as well as sustaining attention and the role our physical bodies play in sustaining our attention. While this is simply a conceptual project, as technology develops this would be ideally used in a group setting, allowing different people to contribute to different pitches, volumes and rhythms, and experience the power of communal creation. Moreover, while there are specic movements for each element of sound, movement would become more uid and more attuned to the individual users movements. More information on the details of this project can be found at kinectwiththemusic.tumblr.com

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FINAL THOUGHTS
Technology continues to integrate itself into our daily activities- apart from the screen- where more and more of our lives are streamlined and digitized. While much of what technology offers is welcome, it generally minimizes any physical exertion. Limiting physical interaction is not only unhealthy, but in doing so, we lose the positive aspects achievable in a more holistic approach. As weve seen, engaging our physical selves is an easy way to also engage our attention, honing it and minimizing fragmentation. So while the world continues to press onward towards a completely digitized world, it will be important to incorporate our corporeal selves in the process, if not only to manage our attention. Integrating physical activity will allow us to enhance our own inherent physical behaviors and signify a reversal of control so our physical actions can dictate how we utilize our digital world. Reclaiming our actions and focus could help enhance and rene our future digital needs, creating more meaningful interactions and a healthier world.

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SOURCES
UNDERLYING SOURCES
Art As Experience. Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. Blauvelt, Andrew. Towards Relational Design. : Observatory: Design Observer. N.p., 11 Mar. 2008. Web. Fall 2012. <http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=7557>. Carey, James. Communication As Culture:. Google Books. Psychology Press, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print. Ellis, Andrew. The Observer and the Observed. Dynamic Media Institute at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. N.p., 2009. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.dynamicmediainstitute. org/projects/the-observer-and-observed>. Fabricant, Robert. Design With Intent. Design Mind. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov. 2012. <http://designmind.frogdesign.com/articles/power/design-withintent.html>. Fantazier, Jonathan. Physical Problem-Solving: Using Kinematics and Kinesthetics to Improve Mathematics. Thesis. Chatham University, 2010. Summer 2010. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2010/3/Fantazier.pdf>. Heller, Steven. Design Dialogues. Allworth Press, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 21012. Ferber, Aaron R., Michael Peshkin, and J. Edward Colgate. Using Kinesthetic and Tactile Cues to Maintain Exercise Intensity. IEEE Transactions on Haptics(2009): n. pag. Web. Fall 2012. <Using Kinesthetic and Tactile Cues to Maintain Exercise Intensity>. Helfand, Jessica. Sensory Montage. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Jessica Helfand | William Drenttel. Summer 1997. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.jhwd. com/wrjheye25.html>. Human-Centered. This Is How You Create Emotional Connections... N.p., 21 Dec. 2011. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.morganspringer.com/ post/14563891499/this-is-how-youcreate-emotional-connections>. Kevin Kelly: The next 5,000 Days of the Web. Perf. Kevin Kelley. Http:// www.ted.com/. N.p., July 2008. Web. <http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_ days_of_the_web.html>. Leetham, Kevin. Designing Responsively. .net Magazine. N.p., 27 Sept. 2012. Web. Nov. 2012. <http://www. netmagazine.com/opinions/designingresponsively>. Maeda, John. The Laws of Simplicity. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2006. Ebook Reader. McLuhan, Marshall, and Lewis H. Lapham. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1994. Print. Meyrowitz, Joshua. No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior. New York: Oxford UP, 1985. Print. Nagle, Michael. Tracking Attention, Social Activity, and Our Environment. MIT Technology Review. N.p., 5 July 2011. Web. Fall 2012. <http:// prod.www.technologyreview.com/ view/424583/tracking-attention-socialactivity-and-our-environment/>. MoMA | Talk to Me. MoMA | Talk to Me. N.p., n.d. Web. Spring 2012. Roncesvalles, Maria Nida C., Marjorie H. Woollacott, and Jody L. Jensen. Development of Lower Extremity Kinetics for Balance Control in Infants and Young Children.Journal of Motor Behavior 33.2 (2001): 180-92. Print. Sacks, Oliver W. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Ebook Reader. Schwartz, Tony. The Responsive Chord. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1973. Print. Tischler, Linda. Ideos CEO: 5 Reasons Global Firms Should Serve The Developing World. Co.Design. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www. fastcodesign.com/1670862/ideos-ceo5-reasons-global-rms-should-servethe-developing-world>. Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York: Basic, 2011. Print.

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ATTENTION AS A CURRENCY
Bell, Steven. Attention Is the New Currency | From the Bell Tower. Library Journal. N.p., 9 Aug. 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <http://lj.libraryjournal. com/2012/08/opinion/steven-bell/ attention-is-the-new-currency-fromthe-bell-tower/>. Bernstein, Rena. Has Advertising Changed or Has the Consumer? | Advertising Today.Advertising Today RSS. N.p., 11 Aug. 2009. Web. Fall 2012. <http://elektrik.com/blog/advertising/has-advertising-changed-or-hasthe-consumer/>. Bilton, Nick. The American Diet: 34 Gigabytes a Day. Bits The American Diet 34 Gigabytes a Day Comments. N.p., 9 Dec. 2009. Web. Fall 1012. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes. com/2009/12/09/the-american-diet34-gigabytes-a-day/>. Brogan, Chris. Attention as a Currency and Noise. Chrisbrogancom. N.p., 16 Feb. 2010. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.chrisbrogan.com/attention-as-currency/>. Frank, George. The Economy of Attention. IT-News, Ct, IX, Technology Review, Telepolis. N.p., 12 July 1999. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.heise.de/ tp/artikel/5/5567/1.html>. Gitterman, Jeff. The Currency of Attention. The Hufngton Post. TheHufngtonPost.com, 04 Apr. 2011. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.hufngtonpost. com/jeff-gitterman/the-currency-ofattention_b_841379.html>.

Goldhaber, Michael H. Attention Shoppers! Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, Dec. 1997. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.12/es_attention.html>. Hagel, John. Edge Perspectives with John Hagel. Edge Perspectives with John HagelN.p., 5 Dec. 2006. Web. Fall 2012. <http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2006/12/the_economics_o.html>. Murray, Ron. Attention - The Currency of Social Media. Attention - The Currency of Social Media. N.p., 2 Feb. 2010. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www. slideshare.net/RoryMurray/attentionthe-currency-of-social-media>. Nielsen, Jakob. Nielsen Norman Group. How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?N.p., 12 Sept. 2011. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.useit.com/ alertbox/page-abandonment-time. html>. McAlister, Matt. Is Attention Finite? Interview. Weblog post. Inside Online Media. N.p., 7 Dec. 2006. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.mattmcalister.com/ blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attentionnite>. Story, Louise. Anywhere the Eye Can See, Its Now Likely to See an Ad. The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Jan. 2007. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/ business/media/15everywhere. html?pagewanted=all>. TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Perf. Paolo Cardini. TED: Ideas worth

Spreading. N.p., Nov. 2006. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.ted.com/talks/ paolo_cardini_forget_multitasking_ try_monotasking.html>. Tsai, Eric. Cracking the Code of Internet Marketing Strategies. Design Damage. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.designdamage.com/ why-attention-is-the-new-currencyonline/>. Wang, Hansi Lo. Money Can Buy You Love On Twitter. NPR. NPR, 04 Aug. 2011. Web. Fall 2012. <http:// www.npr.org/2011/08/04/138984729/ money-can-buy-you-love-on-twitter>.

KINETICS AND INTERACTIVE

Amazing Art Installation Turns You Into A Bird | Chris Milk The Treachery of Sanctuary YouTube. YouTube, 12 June 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=I5__9hq-yas>. Brew, Angela. Drawing Connections: New Directions in Drawing and Cognition Research. (2013): n. pag. Print. HUSH. HUSH. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://heyhush.com/work/ esquire-apartment-interactive-environment/>. HUSH. HUSH. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://heyhush.com/work/university-of-dayton-interactive-wall/>.

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Indoor Air Quality Mapping. The Public Laboratory. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.publiclaboratory. org/tool/roomba-indoor-air-qualitymapping>. Klein, Susan. KINESTHETICS: FOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED FOR CORPUSWEB.NET. (n.d.): n. pag. Web. Fall 2012. <KINESTHETICS: FOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED FOR CORPUSWEB.NET> Larson, Eric. Mashable. Mashable. Mashable, 23 Oct. 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <http://mashable. com/2012/10/23/sustainable-danceoor-tiles/>. Masters, Alex. Can an Interactive Paper Revolutionise the Print Industry? The Independent. The Independent, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <http://blogs.independent. co.uk/2012/09/17/can-an-interactivepaper-revolutionise-the-print-industry/>. MOTIV. MOTIV. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://musicwithmotiv.com/>. Pavlos, John. Thicket, A Music Visualizer App That You Play Like An Instrument.Co.Design. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665709/thicket-a-musicvisualizer-app-that-you-play-like-aninstrument>. Publicis Groupe | Accueil. Advertisement. Publicis Groupe | Accueil. N.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www. publicisgroupe.com/>. Utterback, Camille. Text Rain. Ca-

mille Utterback. N.p., 1999. Web. Fall 2012. <http://camilleutterback.com/ projects/text-rain/>.

MUSIC
Brewer, Chris. Johns Hopkins University School of Education Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom. Johns Hopkins University School of Education Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom. N.p., 1995. Web. Fall 2012. <http://education.jhu.edu/PD/ newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts%20 in%20Education/brewer.htm>. Cooper, Daniel. Scape, Brian Enos New Ambient Music Creation App Is Now Available on the IPad (video) Alt. Engadget. N.p., 29 Sept. 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.engadget. com/2012/09/29/brian-eno-scope/>. Fiorenza, Nick. Planetary Harmonics & Neurobiological Resonances. Planetary Harmonics & Neuro-biological Resonances. N.p., 25 Feb. 2010. Web. Spring 2013. <http://www.lunarplanner.com/Harmonics/planetary-harmonics.html>. Gadalla, Moustafa. Egyptian Rhythm: The Heavenly Melodies. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://books.google.com/ books?id=CZBeZ2VIsoMC>. Klass, Perri. Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benets. Well Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benets Comments. N.p., 10 Sept. 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <http://well.blogs. nytimes.com/2012/09/10/early-musiclessons-have-longtime-benets/>.

Kraus, Nina, and Bharath Chandrasekaran. Music Training for the Development of Auditory Skills. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11.8 (2010): 599-605. Print Music: A Whole Body Experience. YouTube. YouTube, 08 Aug. 2011. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=WzjwnUka-E8>. Priest, David. United States Sports Academy - Americas Sports University Music in Sport and Exercise : An Update on Research and Application. The Sports Journal, n.d. Web. Fall 2012. <http://www.thesportjournal. org/article/music-sport-and-exerciseupdate-research-and-application>. Sauer, Theresa. Notations 21. New York: Mark Batty, 2009. Print. Sonnenschein, David. Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001. Print. Primary Sources Jason Pope: kinect developer and programmer Nina Kraus: Professor at North Western University Garry Golden, futurist

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FOOTNOTES
1,2. McLuhan, Marshall, and Lewis H. Lapham. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1994. Print. 3. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/pageabandonment-time.html 4,5. Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print. 6. http://www.npr. org/2011/08/04/138984729/moneycan-buy-you-love-on-twitter 7. Hagel, John. Edge Perspectives with John Hagel. Edge Perspectives with John HagelN.p., 5 Dec. 2006. Web. Fall 2012. <http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2006/12/the_economics_o.html>. 8. http://edgeperspectives.typepad. com/edge_perspectives/2005/06/ the_aphrodisiac.html 9. http://edgeperspectives.typepad. com/edge_perspectives/2005/06/ the_aphrodisiac.html 10. Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print. 11. http://www.jhwd.com/wrjheye25. html 12. http://www.kleintechnique.com/ kt_kinesthetics.pdf

13-16. Brew, Angela. Drawing Connections: New Directions in Drawing and Cognition Research. (2013): n. pag. Print. 17. Klass, Perri. Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benets. Well Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benets Comments. N.p., 10 Sept. 2012. Web. Fall 2012. <http://well.blogs. nytimes.com/2012/09/10/early-musiclessons-have-longtime-benets/>. 18. Kraus, Nina, and Bharath Chandrasekaran. Music Training for the Development of Auditory Skills. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11.8 (2010): 599-605. Print 19. Sauer, Theresa. Notations 21. New York: Mark Batty, 2009. Print.

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This project is dedicated to the love of my life. Thank you for your constant support and love. You are the best.

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