Journal Article
Open Access
A Design Model for Systemic Sonification
Journal of the Audio Engineering Society · Volume 72 · Issue 9 · pp. 571–584 · September 2024
Abstract
Systemic sonification is a recent proposal for sonification design that offers interactive sonic fields. Inspired by living systems theory, it is formed by a community of sound beings that, as perceived sonic entities, respond to and evolve through human interaction. However, this abstract conceptualization lacked a design model for exploring its design space. The authors present a six-stage design model for envisioning interactive sonic fields, which emerge from the interplay between sound beings and human participants. This model is grounded on eight key concepts (Listener, Translator, Signifier Generator, Composer, Performer, Emitter and Collector), modeling agencies that define a design space for structured yet malleable sonic explorations. Two proofs-of-concept illustrate this model in practice to generate interactive system designs, ranging from objective mappings to subjective perceptions. A Pluralistic Walkthrough was conducted with two data domain specialists, aiming to gain insights on the prototype and discuss design variations based on the model. The authors reflect on the systemic model as a design tool, discussing 1) its generativity to create novel design spaces for sonification and 2) the interaction opportunities that emerge to explore subjective action perception with sound beings.
