Developing the New Zealand Soundmap: An exploration of soundmap practice, site listening, locative media and the sound environment

This text is an exegesis written in accompaniment to the development of the New Zealand Soundmap. The origin and development of soundmap practice and the emergence and development of related environmental sound practices are detailed. The exegesis concludes with an exposition of the development of the New Zealand Soundmap itself. Soundmap practice emerged from the sonic explorations of the World Soundscape Project, who coming out of Simon Fraser University of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, pioneered the first soundmaps in the early 1970’s. From its origins soundmap practice has spread and developed into its current form as a new media practice. This thesis deals with the development of a regional web-based soundmap for New Zealand. Various discursive strains from media studies, sonic arts, and phenomenological philosophy are woven together to explain the impetus, and value of soundmap practice and related environmental sound practices such as soundwalks and site-listening. The thesis ends with a critical analysis of successes and failures of the project towards its stated goal: to facilitate awareness of an engagement with the local sound environment

Networking the Flight of the Monarchs: An audiovisual telematic performance

Networking the Flight of the Monarchs\u27 is an audi-Networking the Flight of the Monarchs\u27 is an audi- \u27Networking the Flight of the Monarchs\u27 is an audiovisual telematic performance. Soundscapes from monarch butterfly reserves in Canada, Mexico and the USA are live-streamed from open microphones installed by Rob Mackay in 2018 and 2019, and blended with improvised performances networked in real-time from California (David Blink - hand- pan/trumpet); Mexico (Rolando Rodriguez - poetry); Canada (Jessica Rodriguez - video); and the United Kingdom (Rob Mackay - flutes and computer). Inspired by Teresa Connors’ creative practice, “ecological performativity” enacts a non- anthropocentric model, characterised as the dance of agency between living and non-living systems, human and non-human actors, and the complexity within which they are entangled [1]. This model stems from the premise that artistic practice enables different perspectives of the world and becomes an apparatus for change, promoting what Welsby considers “a long overdue ontological shift in the way we exist in the world” [2]. In this performance, multiple spatialities and temporalities are layered together, creating connections between past, present, and future, as well as multiple webs between human and non-human participants, weaving together in a dance of agency [3]. The intended effect is a kind of ‘telephenomenology’, building a sense of connectedness, embodied knowing, and empathy. ovisual telematic performanc e. Soundscapes frommonarch butterfly reserves in Canada, Mexico andthe USA are live-streamed from open microphonesinstalled by Rob Mackay in 2018 and 2019, andblended with improvised performances networked inreal-time from California (David Blink - hand-pan/trumpet); Mexico (Rolando Rodriguez - poetry);Canada (Jessica Rodriguez - video); and the UnitedKingdom (Rob Mackay - flutes and computer).Inspired by Teresa Connors’ creative practice,“ecological performativity” enacts a non-anthropocentric model, characterised as the danceof agency between living and non-living systems,human and non-human actors, and the complexitywithin which they are entangled [1]. This modelstems from the premise that artistic practice enablesdifferent perspectives of the world and becomes anapparatus for change, promoting what Welsby con-siders “a long overdue ontological shift in the waywe exist in the world” [2].In this performance, multiple spatialities and tem-poralities are layered together, creating connectionsbetween past, present, and future, as well as multi-ple webs between human and non-human partici-pants, weaving together in a dance of agency [3].The intended effect is a kind of ‘telephenomenolo-gy’, building a sense of connectedness, embodiedovisual telematic performanc e. Soundscapes frommonarch butterfly reserves in Canada, Mexico andthe USA are live-streamed from open microphonesinstalled by Rob Mackay in 2018 and 2019, andblended with improvised performances networked inreal-time from California (David Blink - hand-pan/trumpet); Mexico (Rolando Rodriguez - poetry);Canada (Jessica Rodriguez - video); and the UnitedKingdom (Rob Mackay - flutes and computer).Inspired by Teresa Connors’ creative practice,“ecological performativity” enacts a non-anthropocentric model, characterised as the danceof agency between living and non-living systems,human and non-human actors, and the complexitywithin which they are entangled [1]. This modelstems from the premise that artistic practice enablesdifferent perspectives of the world and becomes anapparatus for change, promoting what Welsby con-siders “a long overdue ontological shift in the waywe exist in the world” [2].In this performance, multiple spatialities and tem-poralities are layered together, creating connectionsbetween past, present, and future, as well as multi-ple webs between human and non-human partici-pants, weaving together in a dance of agency [3].The intended effect is a kind of ‘telephenomenolo-gy’, building a sense of connectedness, embodie

Musical Cities

Musical Cities represents an innovative approach to scholarly research and dissemination. A digital and interactive 'book', it explores the rhythms of our cities, and the role they play in our everyday urban lives, through the use of sound and music. Sara Adhitya first discusses why we should listen to urban rhythms in order to design more liveable and sustainable cities, before demonstrating how we can do so through various acoustic communication techniques. Using audio-visual examples, Musical Cities takes the ‘listener’ on an interactive journey, revealing how sound and music can be used to represent, compose, perform and interact with the city. Through case studies of urban projects developed in Paris, Perth, Venice and London, Adhitya demonstrates how the power of music, and the practice of listening, can help us to compose more accessible, inclusive, engaging, enjoyable, and ultimately more sustainable cities

A History of Collaboration, a Future in Crowdsourcing: Positive Impacts of Cooperation on British Librarianship

This article looks at the varying definitions and usage of the term ‘crowdsourcing,’ including those that insist the term may only be applied to online activities. An argument is made that, semantics aside, the activities known as crowdsourcing, collaboration, and/or citizen science, were in use long before the current online medium was invented and should be recognized not for the terminology employed but for the mutual benefits reaped. The article addresses the strengths of such activities, including user engagement, the accomplishment of tasks otherwise not possible because of budget cuts, and diversity of viewpoint. In addition, the possible weaknesses of recruitment, perceived loss of power by professionals, and oversight of this method of project management are reviewed and suggestions for mitigation are proposed. Finally, instances of historic and contemporary ventures in British librarianship including the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the Mass Observation Movement, Oxford University’s Ancient Lives project, FamilySearch genealogical/ archives work, the British Museum and iGLAM collaboration with Wikipedia, and the Sounds of the U.K. are profiled. Arguments for the relative merits of each profile are highlighted, including benefits to society as a whole, the specific institution, its users, and the future of cultural heritage organizations throughout the United Kingdom

POLISphone: Creating and Performing With a Flexible Soundmap

(Abstract to follow

Mapping Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue. Uncovering the traces of female ethnicity in Turkish film, architecture and sound through fine art practice.

This practice-led research investigates the problematic representations of women from ethnic minorities in the context of Turkey. It questions the ways in which Turkish cinema conceals the ‘other’ ethnic and cultural differences and represents female identity. It seeks to address this problem through newly created artworks: a series of animation and video works aiming to evoke traces of ‘other’ female ethnicities in Turkish society. The case study, Istiklal Avenue,is an important location that was formerly inhabited by ethnic minorities and was the birthplace of Turkish cinema (Yeşilçam) in 1914. This location forms a platform for the research to find new forms of representation through spatial mappings in the specially created artworks. The thesis is situated in relation to the existing literature on historical representations, from the late nineteenth-century Ottoman Istanbul to the period that marks the Istanbul Pogrom (1955), and to contemporary representations of women, especially Asuman Suner and Gönül Dönmez-Colin’s analyses of non-Muslim women in New Turkish Cinema. The methodological approach of the thesis is shaped by the investigation of Turkish cinema and site-specific research at Istiklal Avenue. Svetlana Boym’s (2001) idea that cultural references are usually hidden within the details of ‘reflective nostalgia’films is an important concept which is referred to throughout the thesis. The term ‘shock effect’, which Suner (2010) employs for Turkish reflective nostalgia films, is used in the thesis to describe moments of rupture in the collective memory and consciousness of Turkish society regarding the histories of the ethnic and religious minorities of Turkey. Visual and aural dissonances are created in the artworks to evoke traces of these histories. The first artwork uses the voice-over of the female protagonist Madame Lena in the film Whistle If You Come Back (1993)to create an audio-visual and spatial map for these repressed identities, but the female voice in the final artwork generates a more intensified evocative experience, described by adopting Catherine Clément’s term ‘rapture’ (1994). The research also looks at the difference between ethnic identities through the spoken Turkish of ethnic minorities of an older generation, to explore the viewing of the artworks in different cultural contexts. As well as theoretical and historical research into the female voice,architectural and other visual details are used as research material to make artworks. On-site investigations reveal how various film techniques and montages inform cognitive and psychogeographic mapping, which is put into practice to achieve a spatial understanding of Istiklal Avenue. This investigation leads to the discovery of Botter House, a culturally and historically significant building,which enables the thesis to examine female presence in public space by investigating the flâneuse of the nineteenth-century Istiklal Avenue. Through the artworks, this study proposes that spatial representations, reconstructed from visual and vocal details,can contribute to the representation of repressed ethnic identities, and can question the politics of the representation of ethnic minority women in Turkey

Guilt, Agency, Listening and 32-bit – a composer’s need to capture the sound of Covid

© 2021 WILDLIFE SOUND RECORDING SOCIETY.As a composer and sound designer, academic and researcher, listener, cyclist, home-schooler and dad, my working patterns and life-style have changed enormously over the past year. Having taken for granted many aspects of our sonic environment, ecoacoustics [Krause 2015] and soundscape ecology, this has gradually evolved into a fascination with my local sound world. And I can only apologise! This is partly based on ignorance; partly based on the belief that I can’t listen ‘critically’ due to my locality, and certainly based on the erroneous belief I can’t ‘capture’ sounds due to my locality. One thing is for sure, my listening has changed.Peer reviewe