Microphones record an ongoing conversation, graphing the audio in concentric rings, differentiating voices by color. The further inward the rings, the further back in the conversation. Patterns reveal themselves such as individual people not speaking, interrupting, dominating, etc. Arguments and group silences become immediately tangible. A projector displays the data on a table in front of the participants. Further development is planned using pitch and pattern recognition to extract higher level dialectic features.
It follows that increased self-awareness leads to behavior modification. I’d love to break this out while discussing a group project or debating the finer points of living with my housemates — applications are endless.
LINK/IMAGES [project website]
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The Conversation {4 comments}
Love the idea, it’s a great way to monitor an official debate as well.
Really smart, and I can’t wait to see it implemented if it gets a green light.
Those blobs of colour all look very discrete—I wonder how easy it is to throw the voice recognition system off and have your voice show up in another colour, for example by putting on a fake accent.
…I wondered too early—actually reading the linked page reveals that each colour represents a different microphone.
Also, I’d've shown this as a continuous spiral, rather than having a discontinuity once a minute when all the (concentric) rings shrink.
Greg: I agree re: the spiral.
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