WEEK 7 – The State of My Project (and a bit of my marriage)
The Influence of my Coursework
In my last post, I talked about (virtually) attending a planetarium show during my Coloniality of Data intensive and having a primarily auditory experience. This got me thinking about which sense(s) we rely on, given our ability, access, etc., which guided my contribution to an Interdisciplinary Futures discussion board the following week. The task was to develop a presentation idea for a conference with the theme, Darkness. My post:
Voices in the Dark
This presentation would invite participants to listen (while blindfolded in the dark) to audio recordings of a range of voices of the same regional community to tell personal stories that reflect their experience of what their community is or is not. In this case, ‘range’ emphasizes representing unseen economic, religious, age, orientation, political status and ethnic groups. The purpose of listening in the dark is to allow reliance primarily on auditory knowledge building – the ability to focus on what’s being said while limiting visual or contextual/environmental distraction. (Schermerhorn, Janel, Week 6 Discussion, October 25, 2022, Interdisciplinary Futures Course, University of Edinburgh, online discussion board)
Though I had not consciously thinking about my final project, this echoes my original idea about combining storytelling, community voices, history, events in auditory format – creating a new dataset about my city, Redmond. The new element of listening in the dark is to limit other stimuli, but also to re-defining our experience and definitions of “darkness” – those/that which we see as dark/bad/scary/impure and those that are unknown.
Another idea I have is inspired by Jorges Luis Borges’, “map of the empire the size of the empire.” My husband introduced me to this Borges (translated) essay, On Exactitude in Science, after I read a bit of Borges’ to him that pokes fun at the arbitrariness of classification (an assigned reading in Coloniality of Data course). What makes the life-size map absurd is that it offer no new information to what the observer already has access to. That said, I liked the imagery of a map that exactly overlays a place but with new information, new data that the observer does not have direct access to. I could add this element to my project using QR codes in physical location to create map of the dataset. This way, people could experience the auditory data in relevant locations throughout the city either through discovery or by locating via traditional map.
Experiencing Audio Data, Art, Storytelling
What’s the big deal with audio? I have been a podcast junkie for about 15 years. Very much like books, audio allows for my brain to exist in a time or place different from my body. Unlike books, there are times I can live an experience in real time. For example, if I’m hearing someone tell a story (unedited), I’m listening to the story for the same length of time that it took to tell the story – which makes the information very real, sticky and sometimes emotional for me. Without the distraction of other sensory information that comes with in-person listening or even watching a movie. Here’s 15 seconds of my husband unloading groceries while I write this post.
One of my favorite podcasts is Ear Hustle, which takes listeners into prison life – not to talk about crime – but to share what prison life is like. One of the techniques of sharing (beyond interview) is a heavy use of audio clips of sounds inside prison. The podcast covers topics that may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend this podcast.
So…what can I learn here? I’d like to look into the literature about auditory learning and learn more about journalism techniques for capturing sound to see what could apply to my project.
Current State of Final Project Idea
Summary: create an auditory dataset about Redmond, WA, that is organized by relevant physical location, thereby creating a ‘map’ of people, history, sounds and culture connected to that physical location. The auditory experience offers a new understanding of a specific society, by cutting through the limits of social barriers, personal observation and place in time.
I will need to first develop a database framework. My current (high-level) thought about methodology is to iteratively:
- Create a grid of the key elements location, people/beings, time
- In each cube, research events, people, culture, flora/fauna, infrastructure, experiences
- Existing records (written, auditory, visual)
- Interview community members
- Observation (listen, touch, taste, see, smell)
- Study physical maps
To capture data, I would record the above process in cases where it could serve as the data or would invite people to be recorded in order to create the data.
I remember reading about your ‘voices in the dark’ proposition and wishing it was an actual space. I’m quite hypersensitive in terms of my senses so I struggle to concentrate in environments where there is too much stimuli at once. I’ve recently just allowed my mind to wonder and then when it comes down to focus mode, I opt for a plain or familiar environment with minimal sound (apart from what I’m listening to). As an auditory learner, I find that isolating sounds, and/or creating journeys with sounds has been really impactful for me and I think is a really fun thing to play with. In some ways, it can also be a lot more accessible for people like me 🙂 looking forward to hearing more!
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Maryam. I also find I’m easily overstimulated and it makes me feel overwhelmed. I think that we humans are so excited about “technology” that we are filling our space and minds with as much stimuli (and as many simultaneous layers of it) as possible that we are no longer processing a natural amount of info at a natural pace. Let’s take some time to block out the distractions and listen to one person and one moment at a time.