MA Media Design Thesis - Assignment 2

Created: Mon May 26 2025 02:00:00 GMT+0200 (Central European Summer Time)

Narrowing down on topic and outline methodology.

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View presentation to see more details and some preliminary research.

Research Questions

1. How can lo-fi tech or tech that’s accessible, be used to understand the natural environment around us, specifically the Arve and Rhône rivers and their confluence?
2. What can rivers and confluences teach us about our relationship to technology?

Methodology

Interviews

• Locals: Inhabitants, Commuters
• External: Tourists
• Experts: Artists & Researches
  • Benoit Renaudin
  • Daniel Tapper
  • Natasha Tofield Pasche
  • Guilhem Vellut

Location Field Observations

• Viaduct bridge
• Viewpoint at La Jonction
• Gauging stations
• Along the Rhone and Arve rivers

Data

• Scraping
  • Flickr
  • Reddit
  • Instagram

Measurements

• FOEN

Lo-fi Tech

• Hydrophone
• Sechhi Disk
• Raspberry-Pi Camera

Interview Questions

For Practioners

• Please introduce yourself.
• How do you use lo-fi tech in your practice?
• How does being in Toronto inform your practice?
• Why nature as a subject matter?
• Why water? What draws you to this medium?
• How do you see your practice evolving as we advance in technology and as Earth’s climate becomes more unstable?

Inhabitants

• What is your first memory of the confluence?
• How would you feel if one day this area no longer existed?
• How would you describe the meeting of the two rivers?

Bibliography

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BONCENNE, Colombe and ENON, David, 2024. Ce que disent les pierres. Paris : Manuella éditions. ISBN 978-2-490505-68-5.

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MAGRINI, Boris et al., 2022. Coding care: towards a technology for nature. Berlin : Hatje Cantz Verlag. Zeitgenössische Kunst. ISBN 978-3-7757-5456-9.

NASA’s Cloud-based Confluence Software Helps Hydrologists Study Rivers on a Global Scale - NASA Science, 2025 [online]. Retrieved from : https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/science-enabling-technology/technology-highlights/nasas-cloud-based-confluence-software-helps-hydrologists-study-rivers-on-a-global-scale/ [accessed 2 May 2025].

TOLEDO, Camille de, 2021. Le fleuve qui voulait écrire: les auditions du parlement de Loire. Paris : Manuella éditions LLL, les Liens qui libèrent. ISBN 979-10-209-1006-6.

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