Stage 1: Design Project Proposal

Research Topic	Water Scarcity
Background	Water scarcity involves both water stress and water crisis. The concepts of water stress and water scarcity are relatively new. Fifty years ago, when there were fewer than half the current number of people on the planet, the common perception was that water was an infinite resource. People were not as wealthy then as they are today, consumed fewer calories and ate less meat, so less water was needed to produce their food. They required a third of the volume of water we presently take from rivers. Today, the competition for water resources is much more intense. This is because there are now nearly seven billion people on the planet, their consumption of water-thirsty meat and vegetables is rising, and there is increasing competition for water from industry, urbanisation and biofuel crops. A water crisis is a situation where the available potable, unpolluted water within a region is less than that region's demand. The United Nations and other world organizations consider a variety of regions to have water crises such that it is a global concern.
Problem Identification	The Earth is made out of 70% of water, due to that, the people think that water is an infinite resource. But as the world progress, the demand of water is increasing and water crisis will soon become a global issue. Awareness has to be highlighted to the people that water scarcity is an upcoming world issue and actions have to be taken.
Aim	To create an interactive installation art piece that educates and creates awareness to the users about water scarcity issue.
Objectives	-          To let the user “listen” to the “voice” of the water regarding the water scarcity issue through a variety of water waves on the water surface. -          To let the user experiment with sound frequency and water wave. -          To allow the user have fun throughout the process of experimenting with the art piece.
Motivation	The interactive installation art piece will be equipped with microphone and speakers. When there is no user interacts with the art piece, there will be sound looping from the art piece. The sound is mostly the sound of water. This will create curiosity and people will come over to look at the art piece. When the user interacts with the microphone, they will be able to hear their voice playback with reverb and echo effect. This not just creates the attention to the user who interacting, will also attract the people from the side. The user will be keen on experiment with the art piece as there is a different variety of water wave appear on the water surface.
Ideation and Concept	This interactive installation art piece entitled “Voice of H2O”. The title means that the user will have the chance to actually “listen” to the “voice” of the water. The voice here does not mean the real voice; it means the inner voice, the inner feeling of the water regarding the water scarcity issue. The art piece will be equipped with a microphone, a few speakers and a tank feel with water. The microphone is use as the input for the user to interact with the art piece. When the users talk/speak to the microphone, sound volume (ldb) will be detected. Different level of sound volume will trigger different sound coming out from the speaker underneath the water tank. The speaker will create frequency to the water and then water waves will form on the water surface. Different sound volume will trigger different output of water frequency which will result in different form of water waves. The speaker underneath the water tank will be playing sound like heartbeat. This is to symbolize the “inner feeling” of the water. Different heartbeat sound will have different of water waves form on the water surface depends on the frequency. The water waves are also another indication of the “voice” of the water. Basically, the input of the user (talk to the microphone) is an indication of the people action towards the water, the output (heartbeat sound and water waves) is the indication of the “voice” of the water. User will be able to experiment with the art piece by inputting different voice volume of them and see different effect of water wave. User can be as experimental as they could because each category of volume level will trigger random output of the heartbeat sound, and thus will have different type of water wave. They will also able to know how the sound frequency affects the water wave’s formation.