WHAT IS YOUR THESIS QUESTION?

How might an exploration of radio waves and radio communication through the framework of digital signal processing inform a different logic that underlies network infrastructure and its implications in our understanding of data?

This question evolved from “How can I (we) attain a better understanding of Internet infrastructure and the digitization of our realities through sonic and tactile mediation?”

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU? / WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS WITH THIS PROJECT? / WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO MAKE?

In the attempt to crystallize concepts learned over the course of the year, particularly involving the materiality and the physical, socio-political consequences of the Internet (and who controls it), I wanted to approach it from a sonic and tactile logic. Inspired by both Donna Haraway’s call for new tools of seeing and a talk from Radical Networks on speculative network topologies, I aimed to give sonic form to what I’ve previously accepted as an ‘invisible maze of connections,’ starting with the basic question, “what is the sound of data (the Internet)?” 

As I was exploring this in a mostly analog fashion using a tool to listen to electromagnetic waves undetectable to the human ear, I discovered something quite bizarre. Neither I nor others could discern the causes of particular fluctuations in sound depending on how I used my phone, such as scrolling or posting on different apps. You would think that the only disruptions in sound would come from cellular signals, but that didn’t seem to be the case? Either way, this inexplicable observation more broadly spoke to our mostly visual (and therefore limited) understanding of these digital infrastructures, when in reality, signals permeate the spaces around us, going in and through our bodies. 

In following these questions, I realized I needed to explore the source: digital signal processing, the unquestioned territory of conveying the analog to the digital. In many ways, my hope is to bring a situated, socio-political perspective to a technical understanding of digitization, and I would like to represent this metaphorical representation through radio art. I’m choosing radio because of its tactile affordances and its analog connection to signal transmission, a more comprehensible process of modulating and demodulating sound waves.

While the final form is fluid because of its dependence on learning experimentations, I will produce a well-documented methods journey. Currently, the piece that will demonstrate this resembles an installation, which will emit new ways of hearing and experiencing signals through a radio assemblage. Alternatively or perhaps as a continuation, this could also involve performance between participating individuals, lending their data projections to something like a utopian fugue. The journey I propose is quite personal in many respects, but I hope my inquiry into one system through the lens of another allows others to think about processes of translation and classification more personally as well. Rather than exposing gaps or uncovering unjust effects, mapping out a sonic topology might offer new tools in intervention or invention. And by producing a guide to my methodology, I hope to inspire others to continue exploring this juncture of digitization ideologies.

INFLUENCES OR INSPIRATION

Speculative Network Topologies by Rebecca Uliasz and Max Symuleski: They walk through the limitations of the node-system network and propose different types of modeling logic that involve primary senses such as sound and touch (connectivity through sound waves).

Situated Knowledges by Donna Haraway: Donna Haraway argues for a different approach to objectivity by seeing subjects from a situated and local point of view, one that involves a “splitting” of the senses. She proposes feminist accountability as requiring knowledge that is tuned to resonance and not dichotomy, a framework that conceptually drives my thesis question.

2 Channel Demo by Luming Hao: Luming’s work with the convergence of individual clicks as an exploration of the analog to digital site has been extremely influential in the motivation behind this thesis proposal. He uses digital sound production as a way to examine the technical aspects of representation, and an idea that has stuck with me was that at some arbitrary point, someone, something had to cut off a zero or a one from being encoded, meaning that two numbers (two snapshots of reality) had become indistinguishable in the process. 

Tetsuo’s Mini FM Resources: Tetsuo has a great mini fm radio manifesto, one that sees “micro” as “diverse, multiple, and polymorphous.” The repurposing of radio for new, more intimate ways of networking is beautifully summed up in this statement: “Change in a tiny space could resonate to larger space but without microscopic change no radical change would be possible.” Because of FCC regulations, I most likely will not be able to transmit sound waves past the distance of my room.

FM radio: family interplay with sonic mementos: In this project, the researchers sought to better encapsulate memory and the revisitation of memory by building a custom radio. They chose a radio because it is a “shared listening experience” and the tactile functions of turning knobs to listen through memories allows for three-dimensional emotions that aren’t possible through digital interfaces.

Transmaterial Body by Chelsea Thompto: In thinking about data doubles as extensions of the body, I turn to Chelsea’s work in re-framing the boundaries of one’s own body. By turning her body into a server that others could visit, she blurred that tenuous boundary between physical and virtual, analog and digital.

Seeing Circles, Sines, and Signals by Jack Schaedler: This guide was a fantastic introduction to digital signal processing and the complicated challenges present when sampling, which not only applies to recording music, but also to the digitization of any real-life input. Thinking about aliasing as a critical component of how data gets collected and stored is a basis for my technical experimentations. 

Beyond Data As Representation: This article reexamined the concept of ‘data doubles,’ where it’s not so much about identifying the individuals (and characteristics of individuals) who are left out or incorrectly represented, but about the culture producing effect and wide subjectivation that results from data surveillance. They look at Judith Butler’s concept of “citations,” where they argue for a shift from focusing on individual subjects to the performativity (or citation) that produces such subjects.

Networks of New York by Ingrid Burrington: The original field guide to learning about the physical nature of the Internet. I’m interested in something similar, but from a sonic, electromagnetic angle.

Hello, Brave New World! by Cherie Hu: This was a great piece of science fiction, where the writer imagines a future that runs wild with today’s music streaming monolith. Interfaces have become even more frictionless (no screens) and the commodification of music depends entirely on individual biometrics. I included this piece because I might look into making my project more tangible by analyzing a specific data source, metrics that are monitored and used by Spotify’s algorithms.

HOW DO YOU ENVISION REALIZING THIS PROJECT?

One, I need a thorough understanding of how the Internet works (starting with Sarah Grant’s resources) and how digital signal processing works (more loosely since I’m not going for electrical engineering comprehension). At the same time, I want to expand my knowledge of network theory and data surveillance, and am particularly interested in practices that obfuscate, deconstruct, or re-route data and how this might translate to direct modulation of sound waves. All this involves quite a bit of reading, which I’ve outlined here. 

I’ve been using an electromagnetic wave amplifier, an analog LFO, a raspberry pi, a pocket radio, and an SDR dongle for materials. I hope to use a combination of digital audio software (Ableton), software defined radio software (CubicSDR), and network monitoring (Wireshark), to transmit and transmute different types of signals or sound waves. So far, I’ve just been experimenting with digital signals I’ve detected from iPhone activity (I recorded other digital devices as well) and my conclusion as of right now is that everything is an antenna. I’m not sure if I’ll continue using this source of sound or move to converting network activity into radio waves and as an extension of that, converting specific data sources (Spotify’s API) into radio waves. I’ve only scratched the surface with cubicSDR and I need to learn how to use Wireshark. On the hardware side, I’m looking into the engineering aspects of building radios and amplifiers and may come out of it with the intention to build a radio that meets the requirements of my thesis concept. It does seem ambitious, but I’ve covered a lot of ground already, so I do think my goals are possible. I’m not sure if there’s a community in this, but would love to find one!

Additional food for thought, as I just came across an on 6G radios, or AI Native Air Interface, but this quote, “If we can truly implement all transmitter and receiver signal processing functions through machine learning, then we can fundamentally alter the way algorithms are designed” makes me wonder if I should look into AI/ML for this project.

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS (approx 2-3 sentences each)

  • WHAT ARE YOUR AREAS OF STRENGTH?
    • Music production, fast(ish) acquisition of skills, wacky experimentation
  • WHAT AREAS DO YOU NEED TO WORK ON?
    • Slow at reading (I think, at least in absorbing reading material)
    • Connecting perhaps too many ideas
  • TECHNOLOGIES YOU WANT TO EXPLORE IN MORE DEPTH?
    • Web Audio (looking specifically at at positional audio in Three JS)
      • I know this doesn’t seem to relate but I would like the documentation of this project to live in a spatialized web audio format
      • Network engineering