Lark Spartin and Sydney Bezenar

Dr. Miles Thorogood

MDST 320: Creative Coding

December 2nd 2019

The Decline of the Snowy Owl

The snowy owl is known as one of the largest owls on the planet with the most northerly
habitat. It resides primarily in the Arctic of Canada, thus potentially making it very susceptible to
the effects of climate change. According to the Smithsonian, “under the most recent Red List of
Threatened Species, published December 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) listed the snowy owl’s status for the first time as “vulnerable,” after research showed that
the adult population had decreased to 28,000, down from 200,000 in 2013.” (Calvez). In recent
years, snowy owls have been seen migrating to more southern parts of Canada, such as the lower
mainland, as well as Toronto. This is unusual behaviour for the owl and is attributed to a shortage
of their food supplies. Analyzing the changes in the snowy owl’s patterns can be a great indicator
of the health of the Arctic and can aid conservation efforts of the area (Holt et. al). Our project
serves to show the population decline of the snowy owl and uses creative code to spread
environmental awareness.

With climate change coming to the forefront of political and environmental concern and
discussion, representing an endangered species that resides in Canada was an important issue to
us. Technological design is the main way modern change is represented, making innovative
representation imperative. Visualizing the population decline of the snowy owl computationally
speaks to technology functioning as an activism resource and outreach tool, and the take-over of
manmade devices in natural environments. Using code versus a static traditional art practice is an
easy way to showcase data visualization and provides solutions to the struggles we face in real
time. Computer generated art provides an interface for individuals to react, and sometimes interact,
with a moment in time and the movement of embedded ideas. In Stefania Milan’s article about
data activism, she asserts that code “formats our actions, and is a locus of power in societies that
are highly reliant on algorithms: by underpinning the technological environment in which people
move, code both enables and sets boundaries to human action. On the other, activists develop and
use code to facilitate a series of actions of resistance and subversion, as well as of data
manipulation, making the engagement of the non-tech-savvy sectors of the population possible.”
(Milan, 154)

Our focus was on creating a coded particle system to resemble abstract feathers that
decrease in amount over time. These forms are linked with the sounds of the snowy owl, that lessen
in volume and frequency, and are replaced with other ambient transportation and manufactured
sounds. The sound design is rooted in the contemplation of effects that pollution has on natural
species habitats. Collisions with vehicles and powerlines, as well as people hunting the snowy owl
illegally, have also contributed to it’s decline. The code is a generative piece and uses a particle
system to introduce deterministic, as well as stochastic behavior to the feathers. With our combined
interested in visual communication, photography and video, we wanted to create a project that
combined fundamental key concepts from class, such as generating graphics procedurally, but we
also wanted to simulate creative behaviors found in nature. We decided to play off the same idea
that is found in photography, video and other visual media: the capturing of real life and movement.

Capturing this flow of a feather in the wind, or how the snowy owl would glide through
the air, is not a movement one would think could be easily captured by software. We built on the
idea of a particle system and incorporated a force field to accurately represent the shapes we
wanted to create. Using functions such as updateForceField(), showForceField(), and
createForceField(), we were able to develop natural shapes that were randomized in form. We also
incorporated this.spread and this.show into our particle function in order to adjust feather
parameters. It was a challenging task, considering that the coding platform we created the feathers
with was based on discrete values and logic. This idea of our creative code project functioning
more intuitively was inspired by a project called Imaginary Worlds of Sustainability, an interactive
theatre and interactive code installation. The creators of the project concentrated on keeping the
installation “as free as possible, inviting wandering, playfulness, and reflection.” (Bendor et. al,
3).
Our first attempt at a natural feather shape using Bezier Curves with randomly generated points.

We began introducing particle systems to the screen, and giving each point a postion and velocity. An
alpha value was used, increasing on a sin curve based on a count value.

We used bezier curves to create feather shapes, and added a particle system to give a velocity and
acceleration, which updated the feather positon. Particles decreased based on a conditional statement,
which checked the lifespan of the particle.
ForceField functions allowed us to expand off of a simple particle function, to develop designs created with
variations of lines branching off from a single point.

We adjusted various parameters such as stroke weight, length of the feathers and colours using this.spread
and this.show.

In hindsight, we would link this project to a dataset and connect the sound to the code
instead of adding it afterwards, so that it would work more autonomously with tangible data. In
future developments, generative and interactive sound can also create depth. However, our project
does consider how creative code can be incorporated in educational spaces and contemplates the
idea of how to showcase environmental issues intuitively. Our project gives an understanding of
environmental stewardship, as well as provides the public the ability to make meaning on their
own. We decided to take the artistic route of capitalizing on how technology can embody
expressiveness and empathy. We endeavoured to enhance feelings and forms that cannot be seen
through more traditional modes of data visualization such as bar graphs or charts, by using creative
code and particle systems. These representational visual, kinesthetic, and auditory forms gave us
access to “expressive possibilities that would not be possible without their presence. Technology
provides new means during each generation for representational possibilities to be extended and
diversified.” (Eisner, 5)

Explained in Searching for Computational Creativity by Geraint Wiggins, “knowledge

representation is not concerned with issues like whether something is a pointer or an integer, but
primarily with what the symbols mean with respect to an extrinsic interpretation, and what can be
thence inferred from them.” (214) When considering and understanding how creative coding
systems function and contribute to sustainability art, the role of the computer should be considered
as more than purely intellectual. Our aim with our gallery exhibition was to encourage deeper
reflection and create a meaningful experience for viewers. The generated feathers, sound, and
creation of a textured feather screen, all contributed to the key theme of human impact and
destruction, and contemplation of human’s role in wildlife conservation. Ruth Wallen, author of
Ecological Art: A call for Visionary Intervention in a Time of Crisis, states, “Ecological art can
play a major role in activating and inspiring change.” (3) The screen that hangs on the wall next
to the video is made of feathers, which contributes to the idea that the everyday habits of human
beings are likely causes of population decline. The ease in which such feathers can be acquired,
wearing feathers for fashion, and keeping the demand for supply alive, are all problems that are
pervasive and unethical, and certainly need to be addressed.

Our main objective was to make the issue of population decline of the snowy owl
digestible to the public, showcasing academic fact through abstraction, and create free space for
interpretation and discussion. The installation, Imaginary Worlds of Sustainability, states that
“there is value in public engagement with sustainability based on the exploration and articulation
of deeply held beliefs, and there is value in replacing the infocentric tendency of most public
engagement on sustainability with an approach premised in aesthetics and experiential resonance.”
(1) Effective learning requires more than just a rational view, but rather requires a conception of
reality through tangible experience and feeling (Kagan, 5). We focused our efforts on provoking a
change of attitude regarding the vulnerability of the owl, and diffusing knowledge through a
personally more empathetic and retrospective lens.
 As we researched how environmental issues are represented in the media, our goal was to
provide another stream of creating awareness that doesn’t revolve around the daily mundanity of
the news and develop an open space for communication. Snow melt and snow cover are affected
by climate change and are threatening the rate of extinction of the snowy owl. The very act of
displaying natural abstract forms, such as snowy owl feathers through a non-natural interface,
signals human interruption and intervention of natural processes and symbolizes the dwindling
numbers of many other species as well. Applying creative code to real-world issues, such as the
population decline of the snowy owl, connects organic subjects to technological advancement.
Incorporating computer generated art allows designers and viewers alike to explore this critical
situation on a deeper level and hopefully inspire a call to action.
 Works Cited:

Bendor, Roy, et al. “The Imaginary Worlds of Sustainability: Observations from an Interactive Art
Installation.” Ecology and Society, vol. 22, no. 2, 2017, doi:10.5751/es-09240-220217.

Calvez, Leigh. “Why is the Snowy Owl Disappearing?” Smithsonian.com, 2018,

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/snowy-owl-disappearing-180970314/.

Holt, Denver, et al. “Snowy Owl.” The Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Birds of North America
Online, 2015, https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/snoowl1/introduction

Eisner, Elliot. “Art and Knowledge.” Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives,
Methodologies, Examples, and Issues, 2008, pp. 3–13., doi:10.4135/9781452226545.n1.

Kagan, Sacha. “Cultures of Sustainability and the Aesthetics of the Pattern That Connects.”
Futures, vol. 42, no. 10, 2010, pp. 1094–1101., doi:10.1016/j.futures.2010.08.009.

Milan, Stefania. “Data Activism as the New Frontier of Media Activism .” Data Activism and
Social Change by Miren Gutiérrez, 2018, https://link-springer-
com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/book/10.1007/978-3-319-78319-2.

Wallen, Ruth. “Ecological Art: A Call for Visionary Intervention in a Time of Crisis.” Leonardo,
The MIT Press, 5 May 2012, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/475455/pdf.

Wiggins, Geraint A. “Searching for Computational Creativity.” New Generation Computing, vol.
24, no. 3, 2006, pp. 209–222., doi:10.1007/bf03037332.