Sonify!

PART 1

by Cristian Vogel

About

The first in a series of essays on the theory and practice of data sonification.
Topics: Emergent Tech, Data Sonification, Auditory Design Thinking

Data as Abstract Material

This essay aims to guide the reader through some of the theory and practice of data sonification, from a practitioner’s perspective. Data sonification is a diverse field built around the idea that data can be transformed into sound based forms. These may range from tightly-coupled auditory display where sounds act more like indicators, to creatively loose interpretations referred to as data-driven music. This series of personal essays is not intended to be an academic documentation of the field. My writing is informed by professional practice working with data as raw material, primarily for deriving sound and other unconventional forms of data representation. It might seem unfamiliar to refer to data as material, so let’s begin there. Data is a mass noun. Grammatically, we are supposed to refer to it in the plural. Data are beautiful. Data are weird. Usage like this already implies some notion of mass. Through our everyday interactions with technology, we amass data about living, actions, histories - our world. These are the data histories of the Anthropocene and…