Structure Brainstorm Site

Design Phase: Sonification Toolkit for Journalists

This is a brainstorming space for the high-level structure.
This is NOT the toolkit; it's an outline.
Your feedback is appreciated! (Aura, Fellow @ RJI)

Scroll down to explore the sections of the toolkit

Conceptual Overview

This section will introduce the concept of data sonification, developing a framework of vocabulary and ideas for the rest of the toolkit. It will address items such as:

  • Definition: What is data sonification?
  • Benefits: What are the benefits of sonification? (emotion, accessibility, narration)
  • Applications: What are the possible applications in journalism and information design?
  • Methodology: Methods of sonification (parameter mapping, "punk" sonification...)
  • Mapping: How are you transferring data features to audio features (e.g. pitch, timbre, tempo, volume…)?
  • Aesthetic: How are you considering musicality, data precision, and user experience?
  • Goals: What is the goal of your sonification?

Example Archive

Sonification Projects in Journalism

Here are some possible formats for archiving:

  • An external website that pulls from a database
  • A sortable table embedded directly into the toolkit
  • Airtable or Google Sheet solutions
  • Something else? What do you think?

I want this archive to be supplemental to The Data Sonification Archive. (Ref: Sara Lenzi.)

Sonification Roadmap

This section would provide steps for how to create your sonification project.

Similar resources to consider:
Decibels “Getting Started” Guide & The Data Sonification Canvas.

Roadmap steps may include...

  1. Choose your data
  2. Brainstorm your design
  3. Choose your method
  4. Consider your story and audience
  5. Test, get feedback, adjust, repeat
  6. Export for publication, share

Sonification Tools & Methods

This section will contain a comprehensive list of sonification tools currently available (with descriptions of each). The tools will be categorized by difficulty level and knowledge required by the user.

Examples of categorizations and tool disclaimers:

  • It is web-based application?
  • Does it require coding?
  • What is the difficulty level, from beginner to intermediate to difficult?
  • Is there an installation process involved?
  • What is the output format?
  • How's the documentation?

Examples of tools to include:
TwoTone, Highcharts Sonification Studio, Sonic Pi, DataSonifyer, csv-to-midi, Highcharts, Tone.js, Punk / Manual, MidiTime, Max MSP, Python, SuperCollider...

Resources, Guides, Documentation

This section will contain a trove of resources for people to read about data sonification and access helpful documentation. It will include links to tutorials/guides, articles about sonification, resource websites, how-to videos, etc.

Quick-Start Exercises

This section could consist of ~4-5 quick-start sonification exercises. Each exercise would showcase a different tool or method, cover a different data topic, and include step-by-step instructions from development to export. The exercises would include sample data sets that the user could download and sonify. These exercises could be co-created with various sonification developers, as a way to give exposure to their work and support the sonification community.

Community

This section could provide a list of sonification communities and how to reach them / get added to their platforms (e.g. Discord / Slack / newsletter).

What if this section also contained a set of people that would be willing to act as "mentors" or "consultants," similar to IRE mentors?

  • Decibels Community (website and Discord)
  • International Community for Auditory Display (ICAD)
  • Sonification World Chat

Sonification Interviews (Podcast)

During this fellowship, I've talked with many wonderful folks in journalism about sonification. I'd like to share a podcast mini series or set of recorded interviews I've had with sonification creators.

These conversations might include reflections their process for a particular sonification project, similar to what Song Exploder does for music.

Contact, Collaborate, Contribute

This section would be an opportunity for the user to submit suggestions or changes to the toolkit, through a contact form. It would also be a way for users to find out how to contact me directly. This section might also include a newsletter subscription field for toolkit updates.


Ready to send your suggestions?