Irish Sound Science and Technology Association International Festival and Conference on Sound in the Arts

  • Rebecca Collins (Speaker)

Activity: Participating in or organising an event typesParticipation in conference

Description

This paper will present the processes and methods developed to create a sound and technology toolkit for young girls in schools. Two members of the WISWOS (women in sound women on sound www.wiswos.com) network received a grant in April 2017 to develop a research toolkit. The grant is called Research in a Box and is funded by the Research Council UK and Lancaster University. ‘Research in a Box’ is a loanable kit aimed at GCSE or A-Level school students that fits in with the appropriate curriculum and at the same time showcases resources used by researchers. The aim of the box, developed by WISWOS, is to first, make practical interventions into the current pedagogical apparatus for the teaching of sonic technologies in schools, and second, to interrogate and generate the construction of virtual and physical sites of knowledge exchange on gender, sound and technology. The first Kit will be available to schools and students from September 2017. Over the past decade statistical evidence has shown that young girls and women are increasingly absent from degree programs in sound and music technology in the UK. There is also evidence that this is an international trend. This is part of a tendency of girl’s absence in other areas of computing and technology degree programs. The authors are planning a series of developmental learning tools which will form part of an educative approach involving an engagement with young girls as part of a program of workshops in secondary schools in the north of England. Over the last decade, the relationship between sound, gender and technology has gained increasing attention. There have been a number of practitioner networks, online resources, theoretical interventions, archives and symposia established which highlight the gendered exclusions occurring within the sonic arts. They draw attention to the absence of women within particular socio-cultural spaces such as music technology conferences, concerts,commissioning awards etc. The Box will inspire the next generation of female sonic artists and to aid in their transition of pupils from school to university. In practice they will: • Building their own simple electrical instrument • Learn Live Coding techniques (Sonic Pi) • Have access to online interactive women in sound history space. (This is part of a larger research project where the CI Rebecca Louise Collins will undertake a residency in the British Music Collection (BMC) generating material for an archive of women contributors to the field of sonic arts since the 1960s.) • Finally, the students will play a strong role in beta testing an interactive online space for making sound
Period7 Sept 2017
Event typeConference
LocationDundalk, IrelandShow on map

Keywords

  • Sound
  • Sonic Art
  • Music Technology
  • Pedagogy
  • Gender