A 2005-2008 Research Trajectory Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Goal: To investigate whether the ongoing of digital sound technology marks an ephochal shift comparable to the invention of analog sound reproduction technologies.

Current Work

1. A book-length manuscript tentatively titled MP3: The Meaning of a Format, which considers the mp3 format in the longer history of digital audio, compression technology, and as the first step in a larger mainstreaming of “perceptual coding” technologies. A (very) early version of some of the book’s arguments will be appearing in an article in late 2006 in New Media and Society

2. A co-authored study of podcasting as media practice. An early sole-authored version of this work was presented at the Duke University Symposium on Podcasting in Fall 2005.

3. A co-authored study of the digitization of sounded time. The work was presented at the Mobile Digital Commons Network Conference in Montreal and the Command Tones conference in spring 2005. It is currently under review. (Collaborator: Emily Raine).

4. As part of my contribution to the Augmented Reality Research Team, a study of artificial spatialization in recorded audio connected to the modeling of 3D spaces and 3D auditory perception. I am especially interested in cultural implications of commercial applications of these technologies.

Some other stuff that interests me right now in this area:

5. Connections between analog and digital technologies in the creative work of musicians. Also the resurgence in analog innovation that has accompanied digital audio. Early statements on this can be found in my postscript to Cybersounds and my contribution to Digital Media: Transformations in Human Communication.

6. The history of psychoacoustics and its relation to digital audio technology.