Hunter H, Jasper S, Prior J (2024)
Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes
Publication year: 2024
Publisher: manchesterhive
Edited Volumes: Digital ecologies
ISBN: 9781526170354
DOI: 10.7765/9781526170354.00010
This chapter examines human encounters with non-human beings and places through digital sound, and the role digital sound plays in interspecies relations. First, we reflect upon the recent proliferation of digital sound archives and sonic ecological monitoring techniques and technologies, exploring their contributions to environmental conservation efforts and their ability to forge new kinds of encounters with the non-human world. Along the way, we highlight some concerns that have been raised in relation to these modes of listening, such as the role of Big Tech companies in producing ecological data sets and asymmetrical power relations that are reproduced through digital listening. We also consider how digital sound alters material ecologies in multi-faceted ways, ranging from the luring or deterring of non-human beings to the environmental damages involved in creating and consuming this ostensibly intangible medium. Throughout the chapter, we draw upon recent case studies and relevant literature from across the natural and social sciences as a means to highlight the status of what we term ‘digital sonic ecologies’, which helps us to critically theorise the multifarious interrelations between the digital, the sonic, and the non-human. We end our discussion by identifying new avenues for further critical research in this area.
APA:
Hunter, H., Jasper, S., & Prior, J. (2024). Digital sonic ecologies. In Digital ecologies. manchesterhive.
MLA:
Hunter, Hannah, Sandra Jasper, and Jonathan Prior. "Digital sonic ecologies." Digital ecologies. manchesterhive, 2024.
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