Didactic Label

When plate tectonics shift against each other in the earth, they send out vibrations. These vibrations occur in two forms, surface waves and body waves. Surface waves travel along the outside of the earth and may travel the length of the globe several times before completely dispersing. Body waves travel through the interior of the earth in two forms; Primary waves which compress and expand core materials in the direction the wave is traveling and Secondary waves which shake the material at right angels to their direction of travel. This is what we feel when we experience the shaking of an earthquake. Geologists record these waves using seismographic instruments. This data can be rendered in the form of a seismogram or audio recording. Since the movement of the earth emits sounds that are far below the human aural register the recordings must be played at high speed. This The sounds you are hearing are seismic impressions recorded by seven globally networked seismographs, mixed and mastered by J.T Bullitt; geologist and artist. This project was created by Hallie Chilton as a collaboration between both the Art Department and the Geology Department of Portland State University.

Alarm Bells

Finally got my motion activated alarm today.  Unfortunately it only records 7 seconds of audio.  I would like to figure out how to prolong the playback but I am out of time and still have heard nothing from the geology IT person.  Audio is scratchy and pretty loud with no volume control.
I am also finishing up my geode easter eggs today so at least I will have something to show for this project.  It's good to have plan B in these scenarios.  I plan to hide them throughout the geology department noting each position, then do period walk throughs to see if they have been found.

Interdisciplinary art project

H. Chilton	3:57 PM (0 minutes ago)
to chulbe

Hello,

I realize I have not checked in with you in a while so I wanted to let you know about my progress.  I wanted to thank you for your participation in this project and for getting me in touch with Mason.  He was able to give me some very useful information.  I was able to locate the desired audio clips for the project but unfortunately fell short on the electronics end of things.  I was unable to get a response from the person in charge of the seismograph computer so I went ahead and ordered a motion activated alarm with record and playback for audio.  The result is a little disappointing as the audio is scratchy and louder than expected with no volume control and the audio playback is only a seven second duration.  I would like to bring it by your office and see if you think it is worthwhile to have it mounted in the hallway.  

At this point I am resorting to plan B, the geode easter egg idea.  I would like to get your permission to place the eggs throughout the geology department.

Please let me know what you think

A little help

I met with Mason, a geology grad student on March 6th & 7th.  He gave me some basic information about seismographs and P waves and S waves which are created underground by plate tectonic movement.  This should be helpful in writing up a didactic label.