Abstract
While sound has primarily been employed as a medium or source for auditory experiences or information, recent attempts have emerged to redefine sound as an independent agent through the lens of posthumanist theory. Building upon this discourse and understanding, we conducted a participatory workshop to explore people’s imaginations and thoughts regarding our newly conceptualized independent sonic presence, named “Sonic Being.” Through the workshop, we identified collective expectations of sound as an autonomous, affective, and interactive entity beyond an anthropocentric perspective. We summarized these expectations and imagined qualities into four key themes: Abstract Ghost, My Little Weirdo, Dynamic Initiator, and Emotional Resonator. The contributions of our poster are twofold: (1) we introduce diverse understandings and imagined qualities of an independent sound entity gathered from participants, and (2) we reveal that the independent sound entity holds strong potential as a domestic life companion.
Keywords
Independent sound; Sonic interaction; Posthumanism; Participatory workshop
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.485
Citation
Jeon, J.,and Lee, C.H.(2025) Imagining Sonic Being: Participatory Workshop for Envisioning Sound as an Independent Entity, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.485
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 1 - More Than Human-centered Design
Imagining Sonic Being: Participatory Workshop for Envisioning Sound as an Independent Entity
While sound has primarily been employed as a medium or source for auditory experiences or information, recent attempts have emerged to redefine sound as an independent agent through the lens of posthumanist theory. Building upon this discourse and understanding, we conducted a participatory workshop to explore people’s imaginations and thoughts regarding our newly conceptualized independent sonic presence, named “Sonic Being.” Through the workshop, we identified collective expectations of sound as an autonomous, affective, and interactive entity beyond an anthropocentric perspective. We summarized these expectations and imagined qualities into four key themes: Abstract Ghost, My Little Weirdo, Dynamic Initiator, and Emotional Resonator. The contributions of our poster are twofold: (1) we introduce diverse understandings and imagined qualities of an independent sound entity gathered from participants, and (2) we reveal that the independent sound entity holds strong potential as a domestic life companion.