Looking Outwards 4

Project Name: Sorting

Created by Ren Yuan in 2018, Sorting attempts to transform data into an auditory system through various algorithmic methods of sorting the set. Yuan has created 7 different sorting algorithms, which allows the production of a different set of sounds each time even though the same data set could be run through each sorting system. The auditory and sorting output is also visualized through circular webs and shaded sectors that fluctuate depending on how the data is sorted, compared, swapped, and historically related to other data sets. Yuan describes 7 different algorithms that he uses to sort a data set: “insertion sort, shell sort, bubble sort, quick sort, selection sort, heap sort, [and] merge sort”. Each visual and auditory output created depends on the data inputted, the algorithm used, as well as the random initial condition that is created. However, Yuan does create an initial color palette and web base through the use of the aforementioned circular shape, which helps to define some visual boundaries in which the final piece is limited to.