Data visualization created in virtual reality representing the relationship between my mood and wind speed over time.
Does something as inconsequential as wind have an effect on my mood? Although many disregard it, wind has been an important indicator of the quality of surf for me for eight years. I can be hundreds of miles away from the ocean and a hollow disappointed feeling in my gut still forms when a particularly strong gust blows. For five days, I collected data on wind speed in addition to my mood throughout the day. At 10 AM and 4 PM I stopped whatever I was doing, concentrated on wind speed, and recorded how I felt. My mood was self reported on a five step color coded scale from unhappy to happy. The actual wind speed at each of these times was sourced from a website called Windfinder. I would normally check current and predicted wind speed through Surfline, but in my research I realized that I would need a more location specific resource for this project.
Once collected, my data was then visualized in virtual reality through Google Tilt brush with each knot indicating a knot of wind speed and the color of the knots indicating my mood at the time. Looking back at my study, I can see that higher wind speeds often indicate more sad moods and vice versa. My interpretation of this project was data driven, but also a subjective self portrait because of the self defined way in which I determined my mood. It provides a glimpse of my emotional connection with environmental forces through the lens of the widely accessible data of wind speed. Through artistic study and scientific data collection I was able to confirm my innate feeling that wind can have a strong effect on my emotions due to its impact on surf quality.
Made with Google Tilt Brush.
