Marine MamMLs is an interactive WebXR project that visually sonifies whale communication and cargo ship noise in the NY Bight to demonstrate how close in range their sound frequency is, and how ship noise interference with whale communication can increase the risk of whale injury and casualty. The project integrates data and recordings collected by marina scientists who monitor whale migration and population through the use of present day sensors, microphones, and machine learning (ML) processes.
Conscious of Marine MamMLs dependency on planetary computational networks to reach its audience, and the corresponding impacts of networks on ecosystems, Lucas’s ethos is to work with code rather than digital files, to minimize the file size and the web project’s carbon footprint – and to underscore the significant role that networks play in information exchange, education, and social organization. The project is written with the open source JavaScript library p5.js
Marine MamMLs is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and fiscal sponsor Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center.
