Devlog #19
Hello there! Miriam's on holiday, so this is a shorter-than-normal Loud Numbers development log. Normal service will resume again in a couple of weeks.
As a quick reminder, this is a weekly newsletter we write about how we're developing the world's first data sonification podcast. You're getting it because you signed up at loudnumbers.net, and you can unsubscribe anytime using the link at the bottom of this email.
Boom & Bust
This week we've been polishing up the script for the recessions sonification - which now seems to be called "Boom & Bust". Figuring out what tone to strike when we're talking about recessions in the middle of a huge recession has not been easy - especially because the sonification itself is more than a little silly, going big on the maximalist aesthetics of old-skool jungle music.
In the end, we chose to avoid any grand political statements in the script, letting our views on inequality come out in the track itself instead. The script just explains some basic macroeconomics, talks about how we came up with the idea, and then explains the sound mappings. No sense over-egging the pudding.
Sonification Links
Congratulations to Alan Smith and the team at the Financial Times for winning a "Highly Commended" award from the Royal Statistical Society for their sonification of the yield curve, way back in 2019.
A little NSFW in places, but this is a fascinating sonification of the gender imbalance in MoMA's collection. As Sara Lenzi put it on Twitter:
"Sonification can help 'materializing' patterns which literally emerge in front of you... you just need to take time to listen as it happens, and then it's gone. Ephemeral understanding of phenomena."
Finally, modular synths are getting smaller and smaller but Tom Whitwell is fighting back by building intentionally human-sized interfaces.
Catch you next week!