BIRD-WATTCHING: EXPLORING SONIFICATION OF HOME ELECTRICITY USE WITH BIRDSONG
Dan Lockton, Flora Bowden, Clare Brass, Rama Gheerawo · 2014
This paper reports on work in progress to develop Powerchord, a near-real-time sonification system for electricity use data. Built around a common model of UK electricity monitor, Powerchord plays a variety of birdsong of different intensities in response to the instantaneous power readings from multiple household appliances, providing a form of ambient feedback intended to fit with the soundscapes of everyday domestic life while still enabling a deeper understanding of the energy use of appliances in the home. We start by setting the context of the broader ‘design for sustainable behaviour’ and energy use feedback fields, noting the predominance of visual feedback displays. We then describe findings from a programme of design research with householders, which highlighted that energy’s ‘invisibility’ is a barrier to behaviour change. Co-creation work with householders led to exploring the development of sonification of energy data, first in summary form, and then in near real- time. The affordances of birdsong are discussed, and future research possibilities outlined.