Human soundscape, strange weather, and methodologies
Text: Heikki Uimonen, Anne Tarvainen & Kaj Ahlsved On Friday morning, the Someco research team sat down for a coffee at the Peppes Café in Lessebo to wait for the train to come and to reflect on the field work. The first thing we noticed was how friendly the people were and how positive they […]
Someco interviewed in Sveriges Radio
Click to listen to our chat with journalist Tova Klinthäll (report & photo). https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/sa-later-skruv-finska-forskare-dokumenterar
Silence, Expectations, and the Seasonal Rhythms of Skruv’s Outdoor Life
Text: Kaj Ahlsved Eduardo Galeano’s book Soccer in Sun and Shadow contains a famous passage about silence and places for sporting activities: “Have you ever entered an empty stadium? Try it. Stand in the middle of the field and listen. There is nothing less empty than an empty stadium. There is nothing less mute than […]
Human Voice – A Delicate Creature of the Sonic Environment
In the field, human voices appear to be particularly sensitive to the presence of a researcher—more so than most other environmental sounds.
Scholars on the beat: qualitative and quantitative sensory perception
Text: Heikki Uimonen The 24-hour field recording combined with the traffic count started on Friday at 6 am on Storgatan and Gamla vägen. Samples of 10 minutes were recorded every full hour. The method differed from the listening walk presented here on 5 February in that it was stationary and headphone-based. The first three rounds were […]
Workshop on roosters and sound preferences
Text: Heikki Uimonen On Wednesday 5th we visited Björkskolan to conduct the sound preference test. The pupils were asked about their favourite and least favourite sounds and later interviewed in groups about their use of smartphones and music. After introducing ourselves, we prepared our audience with a story about the roosters that kept us awake on […]
Awakening of a village
Text: Heikki Uimonen Tuesday was well spent walking and listening. The SOMECO team divided the village into three areas, following the documentation of the listening walks in 2000 (see picture). We visited the areas five times a day, starting at 07:00, following the same route repeatedly. Each walk took about 30 minutes. Pencil and paper […]
Bus no. 219 Lessebo–Skruv on 3rd Monday 15:00
Text: Heikki Uimonen A connecting bus from Lessebo station to Skruv allures to participatory observation. Chattering schoolchildren had found their seats in the back of the bus, as usual. A young classmate was listening to music on his smartphone speaker. The announcement “Nästä Linnerydsvägen” (Next stop Linnerydsvägen) was drowned out by the humming of the […]
Heading to the Field
Heikki Uimonen — Dear all This is to let you all know that the Someco research team is packing their fieldwork bags and preparations are well underway. Collecting recording equipment and related documentation tools, filling in the necessary research forms, contacting villagers, etc. is slowly but surely being done. We’re familiarising ourselves with the existing […]