Data_Opera: Dust Data Sound
Within the project Data_Opera I search for approaches concerning sonification of environmental data, like radiation, concentration of particles in the air etc. without concern for its anthropogenic or natural origin. Finedust is one concern of environmental monitoring. Grass roots networks of sceptic people play an essential role in bringing it into the societ discourse. In 1986 radio amateurs uncovered the Prypjat catastrophy, spreading official measurement data and revealed the obscured desaster. They uncovered the unreliability of the alert-systems and put the spot onto the shortcomings concerning information duties of the media and information-rights as part of human rights Not so much changed yet, as the desinformation-campaign of TEPCO in Fukushima or the fact that only few EU states measure finedust classified as PM10, though there are defined threshold values, show. Similar occurences cause proactive people to build networks to measure, monitor and document data on their own and share and exchange it to build alternative data, in order to tackle the hegemonic conglomerate of politics, business and capital.
Within the search for approaches for sonification of random changing dust-concentrations, the DIY idea is vital concerning the choice of materials, as well as chance, the integrated special issue of our examination. The used sensors are already frequently used by air-monitoring networks. All further components are easy to obtain and their usage is openly documented. The concentration of dust that passed the sensor is transformed into referring voltage which controls and alters parameters of the analogue synthesizer, dust we'll hear. Michael Schweiger