SoundsLike: Port Hope Audio Excursions
We Made an APP!
To start using your SoundsLike Port Hope Audio Excursions app, you will first need access to an internet connection to install the app. You can install the app on your phone from home, or use the free wifi available at the Little Station before you set out for your walk. Make sure your phone has plenty of battery life so your walk isn’t cut short. From there, users simply:
1. Install the free app on your smartphone (from Google Play or Apple app stores)
2. Choose an audio excursion
3. Put on your headphones
4. Press ‘start’
5. Explore!
But first, we’re going to need some community testers.
Critical Mass friends and supporters get first dibs to be among the first group to test out the SoundsLike app and tell us what you think. We’ll even buy you a coffee while you venture out on your sound walk.
The first 30 friends who help us test our new app and provide your feedback through a short user experience survey will receive a $10 gift certificate to Happenstance Bakery & Coffee Roastery to buy a coffee and a treat on us.
Sign up to be a tester!
Email Debbie at info@criticalmassart.com, or fill in this google form to get on the list! There will be 3 rounds of community testing, with the first group beginning in May.
Testing on Android devices
The app’s first iteration was built and is currently being tested on Android devices. We will have a couple Android phones for our testers to borrow.
Coming to Google Play and Apple Stores this summer
The app will be available for free download in both the Google Play and Apple stores later this summer.
Location:
Port Hope, Ontario
SAVE THE DATE
Official APP LAUNCH EVENT
Saturday, June 16th
noon – 2:00 p.m
Critical Mass will host a live launch event with artist talks and artist-led soundwalks on Saturday, July 16th in celebration of World Listening Day.
Pre-registration is encouraged for this event. Email your interest in attending the official launch event, send inquiries to Debbie at info@criticalmassart.com.
SoundsLike: Port Hope Audio Excursions is an art forward mobile app that uses GPS location-based and artist-designed stories and immersive sound art experiences to animate Port Hope’s cultural, natural, and heritage spaces. It will be free to the public, and was created during the pandemic with social distancing in mind.
With a $74,900 investment from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Critical Mass Art commissioned sound artists, a user experience consultant, and local app development team Maker’s Dozen to design and make a bespoke art forward location-based mobile APP that is tailor-made for (and with) the Port Hope community.
Using technology that’s literally in everyone’s hands, Critical Mass aims to connect more people with Port Hope’s identity — providing a tool for future story sharing and collaborative forms of meaning-making, increasing the number of voices heard.
The first two soundwalks for the app release are primarily located throughout downtown Port Hope, and include over 30 locations to explore between the fish ladder and the waterfront.
There are 14 listening spots in the TimeRiver soundwalk and over 20 listening spots in the Port Hope Strata Walk to explore.
The walking routes don’t need to be explored in a linear fashion. The soundwalks were designed so that listeners can enjoy the audio excursions at their own pace. There are multiple ways to experience these Port Hope soundwalks. If you only have a few minutes to listen during a coffee break, that’s okay. If you have time to go for a longer walk, you will have enough content to listen to for as long as it would take to watch a feature film. However, you get to listen while being outside walking and experiencing your community in a new way.
Check back here as we post more info about our artists and soundwalks.
The app will initially be available for free download in the Google Play store for Android mobile devices.
It will be available to the public for free download in both Google Play and Apple app stores this summer.
For more information, please contact:
Debbie Beattie (she/her)
Program Director
Critical Mass Art
info@criticalmassart.com
Northumberland-Peterborough South is renowned province-wide for its art and culture, and I’m thrilled that the Government of Ontario has recognized the role that Critical Mass Art can play for our entire community. Thanks to this $74,900 investment, our community will continue to benefit from this tool that connects both our rural and urban communities, and preserves all of our stories.
