Devlog #33
Happy Friday! It's almost the weekend, and this is the Loud Numbers development log - a newsletter that goes out every week giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how we're building the world's first data sonification podcast.
Well, actually, it turns we're not the world's first data sonification podcast. We learnt this week about the existence of Sound and Data - a podcast where sonification researcher Scot Gresham-Lancaster has interviewed many of the most notable figures of the scene over the years. We're really excited to dig into the archives!
Interview with a Cicerone
Last weekend we recorded an interview with Malin Derwinger, the professional beer-taster who supplied data for our track "Tasting Notes", which sonifies the experience of drinking several different styles of beer.
It all went smoothly - we used Zencastr.com to record high-quality audio from three different people over the web at the same time, which worked a treat. Malin had some fantastic stories about the different beers, and we should have everything we need now to get that track finished - which is the next major milestone we need to meet.
Scripting a Massacre
We also finished up the script for "The End of the Road" - which will probably be the final episode of the season. This wasn't an easy one to write - it's the story of falling insect populations over the last few decades. And by "falling" we mean "like an anvil", rather than "like a snowflake".
As we've mentioned before in this newsletter, music (and therefore sonification) has a lot of emotional power - and the framing of the story can magnify its impact even further. It's vital to use that power carefully, deploying it judiciously - only when truly warranted.
The mass extinction that the Earth is currently experiencing feels like a situation where some emotional storytelling is warranted, but there'll undoubtedly be folks who disagree - who argue that the numbers speak for themselves. Our take is that if that were true, we wouldn't be in this mess, would we?
Dataviz Stockholm
Those of you who missed our Outlier talk might be interested to know that we're doing an encore performance next Tuesday evening at the Dataviz Stockholm community meet-up. The event runs from 5.30pm to 7.30pm Central European Time. You can register here.
Elsewhere
If you like podcasts and sonification (and if you don't then why are you here?) then you're going to want to check out the latest episode of The Jab - the Economist's COVID-19 vaccination podcast. At about 26 minutes in, there's a sonification of the progress different countries are making towards immunising their population against the virus.
If you're interested in sonification for accessibility then you're going to want to browse through the collection of simulations created by Ashton Morris for PhET at the University of Colorado. Our favourite is definitely the incredible "John Travoltage" for sheer style alone (wiggle his leg and arm around with your mouse), but the Gravity Force Lab is perhaps a better example of actual sonification.
Finally, sometimes a dataset comes along that just makes your jaw drop. In 2011, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray had a car accident in suspicious circumstances. The data from the vehicle's black box was made public. So Brian House created a sonification of a car crash titled "You'll Just Have To Take My Word for It". Well worth your time.