Milena Droumeva

en

Dr. Milena Droumeva is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Glenfraser Endowed Professor in Sound Studies at Simon Fraser University, specializing in mobile technologies, sound studies, and multimodal ethnography. She has a background in acoustic ecology and works across the fields of urban soundscape research, sonification for public engagement, as well as gender and sound in video games. Milena’s current research combines livability with urban soundscapes research, including sonification of socially relevant data; in addition, Milena is co-investigator for ReFiG, a SSHRC partnership grant exploring women’s participation in the games industries and game culture.

 

Marc St Pierre is a researcher and a community engaged artist in the classroom. In his lab as well as his maker space, Marc blurs the lines between science and art by building technology to express environmental data as sound. Fostering an ecological and environmental sensibility through data communication, his practice challenges and extends existing systems of scientific knowledge distribution. Marc has won a handful of awards for his work, the most recent being “Best Use of Sound” at the International Conference for Auditory Display for his publication on air quality sonification. He regularly teaches in a range of topics including programming, sound editing and making, and has also been commissioned to work with community organizations like City Opera Vancouver, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and the City of Surrey among others.

research

research expositions

  • Sonifying for Public Engagement: A Context-Based Model for Socially Relevant Data (2018) author(s): Milena Droumeva published in: Journal of Sonic Studies
    In this paper we discuss the possibility for designing sonification as a tool for public engagement for socially relevant data. We do so through a case study of a specific sonification model and the results of a participatory focus group discussing ours and similar sonifications of “social” data. First we report on a unique and contextually-sensitive approach to sonification of a subset of climate data: urban air pollution for four Canadian cities. Similarly to other data-driven models for sonification and auditory display, this model details an approach to data parameter mappings, however we specifically consider the context of a public engagement initiative and reception by an “everyday” listener as a core principle informing our design. Further, we present an innovative model for FM index-driven sonification that rests on the notion of “harmonic identities” for each air pollution data parameter sonified, allowing us to sonify more datasets in a perceptually “economic” way. Finally, we discuss usability and design implications for sonifying socially relevant information based on user evaluation of our design and an open-ended discussion from two small-scale participatory focus groups.
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