My friend who lives in the Junction area of West end of Toronto within a low density low mixed residential neighbourhood has agreed to participate in the experiment. It will be on March 11, 2023.
I have modified the scores slightly and included new questions in the feedback questionnaire to see if the scores give any clue to the participant about the existing social environment in his neighbourhood street block. His perception of the street block doesn't have to reflect the reality of the social atmosphere but what is important is what he perceives after being engaged with the visual/auditory dimensions of the street.
Experiment with a landscape planner from the City of Toronto in her neighbourhood. It will be on March 18, 2023.
I have added a few more score components to the visual engagement compared to the scores used in experiment conducted on March 11, 2023. The feedback questionnaire have also been improved to gather more information on the participants' perception of social atmosphere of her street block following her visual engagement with the street and the surrounding elements.
Participatory experiment 4:
A friend and a resident from Toronto West Bloordale neighbourhood took part. She is a 'deep listening' practitioner and was interested in exploring only the auditory scores.
Unfortunately, the feedback interview was done in a coffeeshop and it was quite noisy at the time. I will have to find a noise reduction software to clean the background noise before I can fully extract the contents of the interview from the recording.
Reflections on Follow-up Interview:
Friday, July 14, 2023
It seems the experiment had left some good impact on the participant. First of all, she could recall many aspects of the experiment even after a large number of weeks since the day of the experiment. This indicates that the tasks she was asked to do either were new to her experience and thereby, fascinated her or they brought a new awareness to her about the environment. She is a deep listening practitioner but she never practices listening to the soundscape of the public space. So, the objective of the scores are generally new to her. However, the act of deep or mindful listening is not something that is new. But the way of conducting the listening, for instance, with eyes closed, was new to her.
However, she does not always want to admit when any experience surprises her. This could be because being a deep listening practitioner she does not want to approve of methods that are not in her knowledge or because she does not want to admit that there is value in listening to things in the context of how it shapes our lived experience. There is some tension that I notice in her voice majority of the time if she needs to give credits to others.
However, her words say different things. When she said she could tell the difference in energy between her street and a neighbouhring street through sounds, it suggests, the experiment made an impact. When she could find joy or newness in listening to the traffic sound and moving with it, it suggests she developed interest in the experiment. When she could add a richer layer of experience in walking through the alleyway, it suggests the experiment shifted her relationship with that alleyway. From a dull, boring alleyway, it presented itself to her as a place that bring ‘ecological being’.
One resident from my neighbourhood agreed to participate in my experiment this week. She has been a resident of this neighbourhood for 30+ years and lives on the same street as mine.
