The Online Repository for Electroacoustic Analysis project : a community approach to electroacoustic music analysis

Since March 2011 Online Repository for Electroacoustic Analysis (OREMA) project has been in operation allowing users to upload analyses and post topics for discussion to a wider community of participants. It is an open access initiative that has no limits to the type of analysis one might submit (provided it is within the scope of the project) or any hierarchical structure, which facilitates a dialogue between postgraduate students, professors, lecturers and enthusiasts. What has been determined is that there is a now a model for community engagement towards the advancement of analytical ideas and practices within the domain of electroacoustic music analysis. This paper is not aimed to argue what constitutes electroacoustic music analysis, the problems with this field, or even to answer its critics, rather it will promote the concept of the analytical community. It will discuss the benefits of an open access platform based on Web 2.0 technology that would allow for such a community to exist. The OREMA project will be used as an example of such an initiative. The OREMA project is part of a three year funded project titled New Multimedia Tools for Electroacoustic Music Analysis (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council), which is coordinated by Professor Simon Emmerson and Professor Leigh Landy of De Montfort University, Leicester. The concept of the OREMA project was developed after the funding application and forms part of the original contribution within my PhD research