[iDC] Social and technological aspects of aural architecture

[Barry Blesser]

During my  5 years of researching the topic of auditory spatial awareness,
which is discussed in my book Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing
Aural Architecture, I observed that the auditory aspects of spaces evolved
from an ad hoc mixture of culture, religion, technology, politics, and the
social needs of the inhabitants. In almost every case, nobody served as a
aural architect.

In this sense, aural architecture becomes an ideal working example of the
interdisciplinary nature of our arts and science. While collecting the
research material, I observed that dozens of disciplines each had something
to contribute to the large topic. The question then becomes how to integrate
these insights into a single coherent picture of the phenomenon. None of us
have access to a phenomenon, but rather, each discipline can describe the
shadow that it casts as seen through the filter of its discipline. By fusing
together all these shadow, we get a better picture of the hidden phenomenon.

Additional information about the book can be found at the MIT Press web at:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10947 and I can
provide copies of the Introduction and Table of Contents if you send me an
email requesting them.

For those that have a chance to look at the book, I welcome the opportunity
to discuss how to expand the foundation that I established.

Barry Blesser (former MIT Prof)
bblesser at alum.mit.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/attachments/20061119/8792b937/attachment-0002.htm