Sonification and Music, Music and Sonification

Despite it being more than twenty years since the launch of an international conference series dedicated to its study, there is still much debate over what sonification really is, and especially as regards its relationship to music. A layman’s definition of sonification might be that it is the use of non-speech audio to communicate data, the aural counterpart to visualization. Many researchers have claimed musicality for their sonifications, generally when using data-to-pitch mappings. In 2006 Bennett Hogg and I (Vickers and Hogg 2006) made a rather provocative assertion that bound music and sonification together (q.v., and further developed in Vickers (2006)), not so much to claim an ontological truth but to foreground a debate that has simmered since the first International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD) in 1992. Since then there has been an increasing number of musical and sonic art compositions driven by the data of natural phenomena, some of which are claimed by their authors to be sonifications. This chapter looks at some of the issues surrounding the relationship between sonification and music and at developments that have the potential to draw sonification and the sonic arts into closer union

Haptic and Audio Interaction Design: First International Workshop, HAID 2006, Glasgow, UK, August 31-September 1, 2006, Proceedings

Here are the proceedings of the First International Workshop on Haptic and Audio Interaction Design, HAID 2006. The book presents 15 revised full papers, in a variety of disciplines ranging from psychology to art, showcasing how haptics and sound can improve user interaction with computers, helping people with various kinds of disabilities and visual impairment. Also addresses psychophysics, art and leisure, and mobile applications that improve selections in virtual environments

Haptic and Audio Interaction Design: First International Workshop, HAID 2006, Glasgow, UK, August 31-September 1, 2006, Proceedings

Here are the proceedings of the First International Workshop on Haptic and Audio Interaction Design, HAID 2006. The book presents 15 revised full papers, in a variety of disciplines ranging from psychology to art, showcasing how haptics and sound can improve user interaction with computers, helping people with various kinds of disabilities and visual impairment. Also addresses psychophysics, art and leisure, and mobile applications that improve selections in virtual environments

Motion correlation: selecting objects by matching their movement

Selection is a canonical task in user interfaces, commonly supported by presenting objects for acquisition by pointing. In this article, we consider motion correlation as an alternative for selection. The principle is to represent available objects by motion in the interface, have users identify a target by mimicking its specific motion, and use the correlation between the system’s output with the user’s input to determine the selection. The resulting interaction has compelling properties, as users are guided by motion feedback, and only need to copy a presented motion. Motion correlation has been explored in earlier work but only recently begun to feature in holistic interface designs. We provide a first comprehensive review of the principle, and present an analysis of five previously published works, in which motion correlation underpinned the design of novel gaze and gesture interfaces for diverse application contexts. We derive guidelines for motion correlation algorithms, motion feedback, choice of modalities, overall design of motion correlation interfaces, and identify opportunities and challenges identified for future research and design

Paradoxes of interactivity: perspectives for media theory, human-computer interaction, and artistic investigations

Current findings from anthropology, genetics, prehistory, cognitive and neuroscience indicate that human nature is grounded in a co-evolution of tool use, symbolic communication, social interaction and cultural transmission. Digital information technology has recently entered as a new tool in this co-evolution, and will probably have the strongest impact on shaping the human mind in the near future. A common effort from the humanities, the sciences, art and technology is necessary to understand this ongoing co- evolutionary process. Interactivity is a key for understanding the new relationships formed by humans with social robots as well as interactive environments and wearables underlying this process. Of special importance for understanding interactivity are human-computer and human-robot interaction, as well as media theory and New Media Art. "Paradoxes of Interactivity" brings together reflections on "interactivity" from different theoretical perspectives, the interplay of science and art, and recent technological developments for artistic applications, especially in the realm of sound

Paradoxes of Interactivity

Current findings from anthropology, genetics, prehistory, cognitive and neuroscience indicate that human nature is grounded in a co-evolution of tool use, symbolic communication, social interaction and cultural transmission. Digital information technology has recently entered as a new tool in this co-evolution, and will probably have the strongest impact on shaping the human mind in the near future. A common effort from the humanities, the sciences, art and technology is necessary to understand this ongoing co- evolutionary process. Interactivity is a key for understanding the new relationships formed by humans with social robots as well as interactive environments and wearables underlying this process. Of special importance for understanding interactivity are human-computer and human-robot interaction, as well as media theory and New Media Art. »Paradoxes of Interactivity« brings together reflections on »interactivity« from different theoretical perspectives, the interplay of science and art, and recent technological developments for artistic applications, especially in the realm of sound