This week, I got my K30 CO2 sensor hooked up to my Arduino Uno. This means that the bare components of the system work (yay!) and now all I need to do is to integrate them. This will be tricky, of course, but I think it will be manageable. I'd like to incorporate a temperature probe as well. This, presumably, will be the easiest of the three components to integrate. Once all three are working I can send the values to MAX/MSP for audio. There are, of course, other options. The values could be visualized in Processing or another program (they could be visualized in MAX as well, for that matter). However, there is a large focus on visualization techniques, and I think that there is a good argument that we as a society are too visually focused. The ear, so I'm told, is much more sensitive to distinguishing difference than the eye—hence the need for such attention to design and layout for visualizations. So, arguably, hearing the data has the potential for more nuanced experience of fermentation.
I think that in the long run this project will need a way to record data. I've not done a lot of data logging, but I think that this is critical for understanding the different fermentation processes, between kimchi and sauerkraut, for instance, or different vegetables or even different kinds of cabbage. We'll see what kind of fidelity I get from the sensor readings. I should have something running by Wednesday, with pictures and a write up.
K30 CO2 sensor