Projects

Using the familiar and freely available Te Wiki o te Reo Māori tohu, this project is a multi-disciplinary effort that was prototyped in just a few hours.

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This dynamic neon sign uses open language models (originally Whisper, and now a self-trained version of speechbrain/lang-id-voxlingua107-ecapa) to identify spoken language. When Māori is spoken near the sign, the neon tongue lights up, providing instant feedback on the level of reo being spoken in the whare.

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We further gameify the interaction through leaderboards, with the goal of encouraging friendly competition between whare with similar signs.

With more than 14 pātaka kai spread across the Tairāwhiti region, we want to go even further, supercharging the effectiveness through technology.

 

By integrating solar, low-power weight sensors and mesh radio communications, we aim to build a super-pātaka that can self-report food levels and ultimately display the status of each on a public map, helping to direct kai to where it is needed the most.

As we integrate the maramataka into our daily lives, we designed a laser-cut installation above the kitchen in Tāiki e! that could show us the current lunar phase, using addressable LEDs.

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It is designed to be interactive, not only lighting up the current moon phase, but also being able to respond passively to conversation in the space, changing colour and helping to bring the guiding principles of the maramataka into our daily kawhe and korero space.