Sudbury business association brainstorming, literally: Downtown BIA using brain activity technology to assess perceptions of downtown area.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: SUDBURY

Maureen Luoma wants a vibrant downtown.

However, the executive director of the Downtown Sudbury Business Improvement Association (BIA) realizes her idea of what makes a downtown vibrant might not be the same as everyone else's. She's hoping a new study that harnesses participants' brainwaves will help her and the BIA members gauge what residents would like to see downtown.

Luoma said the the study, Expressing Vibrancy, was a part of their board's revisited vision that emerged in spring 2015. They met Hamilton-based CoBALT Connects which conducted the study shortly after a board transition at the BIA, and it seemed like a natural project.

"It fit with what we were trying to do as an organization," said Luoma, who described the project as "data collection through a cultural lens."

CoBALT Connects specializes in the advancement and development of creative communities in Ontario. In the case of Expressing Vibrancy, they're developing a report that will summarize how the public views creative aspects of the downtown Sudbury area like public art, and bench locations. But the study also addresses commercial aspects like storefronts, store displays, operating hours, and other business-relevant features.

The study, funded by the Greater Sudbury Development Corp. (GSDC), consists of several phases.

It started with an inventory of existing neighborhood features. In August, it took participants on a walk through downtown neighborhoods to survey them about their live impressions. It was followed by a 360-degree video capture of the area, which was presented in the final phase.

In Digging Deeper, the final phase that took place in October, participants attended sessions where they were equipped with electroencephalogram (EEG) devices that measure brainwaves, and had to answer questions as they observed images like the videos they created of downtown, stills of graffiti, or sounds like murmuring at a cafe.

CoBALT Connect's EEG devices can capture more subconscious reactions to the stimuli, and can reflect the participants' excitement.

They will combine the feedback with the...