Methods of Contextualizing Exploration: Data Through Sound
To explore alternative ways of contextualizing data beyond visual representation, I investigated the possibility of experiencing data through audio. The aim was to allow carbon-emissions data to be understood intuitively through sound rather than solely through reading charts or graphs.
I began by reimagining the musical score as a framework for data representation. Instead of using a traditional musical clef at the beginning of the staff, I replaced it with powers of ten, transforming each line of the staff into a numerical scale. Musical notes were substituted with passport stamps, representing journeys taken by students traveling to their hometowns. These stamps were used as markers to measure the carbon emissions associated with two modes of transportation: railway travel and long-haul flights.
However, this approach proved difficult to read, and it only represented two transportation modes while excluding others. To simplify the visualization, I experimented with using the musical whole note to represent the total carbon emissions generated by each country. This allowed the data to be summarized more clearly within the score.
After visualizing the data in this format, I became interested in how the emissions data might sound when translated into music. I therefore converted the carbon-emissions data from different regions—Asia, Europe, North and South America, Oceania, and the United Kingdom—onto a musical staff.
I then imported the score into music notation software and selected the piano as the instrument to test how Asia’s carbon emissions might be interpreted sonically. Building on this experiment, I developed an orchestral score in which different instruments represented different regions: Asia was represented by the piano, Europe by the bass guitar, and North and South America by the violin.
Though this direction generated a lot of interest due to its new and engaging approach, it was ultimately not pursued further due to time constraints, and it did not fully align with our group’s enquiry and the project brief.
Asia Student Hometown Travel Audio
Asia, Europe, North and South America Student Hometown Travel Audio