Sydney Sidetracks : listening in to ‘history where it happened’ using the ABC’s television and radio archives

Sarah Barns

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paperpeer-review

    Abstract

    ![CDATA[Developments in mobile computing, including the increasing proliferation of 3G mobile devices with location-aware capabilities, have generated heightened interest among media practitioners, researchers and artists in the use of urban or environmental contexts as a media platform. The ABC’s Sydney Sidetracks was the ABC’s first foray into location-based services, and offers users an experience of ‘history where it happened’ out on the streets of central Sydney. This paper discusses the research methodology adopted in the development of Sydney Sidetracks, which has deliberately sought out ambient sound recordings capturing events and locations no longer visible today – constituting an archaeology of Sydney’s invisible topography which locates its recorded action, not surviving artefact. The paper explores the opportunities associated with the use of sound archives on mobile platforms, where offering users an ability to ‘listen in’ to historical recordings in-situ might promote a different kind of interactivity, one that uses the sounds of another era to frame a contemporary visual experience of place. In this way the mobile listening device might be imagined as a kind of homing device to the recorded history of a place, which, rather than distancing the listener from their physical or social context, might– somewhat playfully – promote interaction with previous listening publics and former uses of public urban space. This approach is contrasted with what Crang and Graham (2007) have described as the more anticipatory focus of many location-based media interventions, which link imaginations and anticipations of future behaviour(s) to categorical renderings from computerized memory. An ‘auditory turn’ towards the sound archive is thus presented as an alternative methodology through which to explore the experience and representation of urban spatiality using networked media devices.]]
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationANZCA09: Communication, Creativity and Global Citizenship: Refereed Proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference: 8-10 July 2009, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
    PublisherAustralian and New Zealand Communications Association
    Pages1140-1157
    Number of pages18
    ISBN (Print)9781741072754
    Publication statusPublished - 2009
    EventAustralian and New Zealand Communications Association. Conference -
    Duration: 8 Jul 2009 → …

    Conference

    ConferenceAustralian and New Zealand Communications Association. Conference
    Period8/07/09 → …

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