On breathing and geography: Explorations of data sonifications of timespace processes with illustrating examples from a tidally dynamic landscape (Severn Estuary, UK)

Palmer, Michaela; Jones, Owain

Abstract

This paper consists of a discussion of data sonification-a procedure in which information gathered from systems such as bodies or environmental processes is analyzed and reprocessed into audio models, so aspects of the process generating the data (for example, emotional or tidal ebb and flow) can be apprehended by human senses. This serves various purposes relevant to geography. Firstly, it sets out the principles of sonification as a method, defining its basic principles and relating it to both qualitative and quantitative data. Secondly, it offers potential to geographic interests in process, times, rhythm, landscape, place, and more besides- 'representing' various aspects of processes that are beyond normal human apprehension, perhaps through register, duration, pitch, and so on. Thirdly, in the illustrating examples, which comprise sonifications of tides and other processes in the Severn Estuary, UK, it highlights possibilities of engaging local communities and stakeholders with the dynamics of landscapes such as tidal processes, which have significant implications for culture, economy, and ecology, as do other tidal and other process geographies elsewhere.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 30, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 4, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 9, 2016
• Journal: Environment and Planning A
• Print ISSN: 0308-518X
• Electronic ISSN: 1472-3409
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 222-240
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a45264
• Keywords: sonification, process, rhythm, landscape, time, tides
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/825893
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a45264
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Palmer, M, Jones, O., 2013. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning A, volume 46, 1, 2014. DOI: 10.1068/a45264
• Contract Date: Feb 9, 2016