JD1-Angela's online instrument

Ok so I've had a bit of trouble figuring out how to use the blog, and apparently my other post did not work so I am posting again. Here's the link to my instrument:
http://www.student.ocad.on.ca/~apetranik

When I made this piece, I was dealing with the concept of the skinner box, an invention made by a behavioral psychologist named B.F. Skinner to study classical and operant conditioning.

In a skinner box, an animal such as a pigeon is given a choice of buttons that have different results when pressed (eg. press button one and you get food, press button two and you get shocked). I wanted to make an instrument that parallels this set-up; on my instrument, each button results in a different sound or animation. Some buttons have different sounds or images depending on whether you roll over them or click on them.

Similar to the pigeon in the skinner box, the viewer becomes the subject of the experiment by pressing different buttons to achieve different results. I have placed myself in the position of experimenter/scientist, because I have created the scenario for the subject/viewer to participate in.

The idea originated from a project in my sonic arts class where I made a short audio piece (it plays in full when you click the bottom left large pigeon photo). I wanted to expand on the concept and make something more interactive and conceptual, so I made this online instrument. I took raw sound material from the internet and excerpts from my sonic arts project, editing them in Adobe Audition to make different variations on each sound. I also found raw visual material on the internet, and edited it in Photoshop, to make variations in the colour, size, etc. Then I put it all together in Flash, and ... that's that. I hope you enjoy it!