The Sound of Capta : Sonification as critical method for data perceptualization in digital humanities

Sonification allows for the analysis and interpretation of data through its rendering into sound. It is a method that remains largely unexplored from a digital humanities perspective. The present thesis addresses this research gap by exploring aspects of sonification as a mode of data perceptualization. Methodologically, it combines an extensive review of sonification literature with the design of a sonification prototype. The prototype is created using an exploratory programming approach and is evaluated through a small user study. One of the main challenges of using sonification within the humanities consists in aligning it with humanistic interpretative and critical modes of inquiry, in the thesis understood through the framework of Johanna Drucker’s critical hermeneutics. Another challenge is related to the shortage of existing projects and previous research, and also to a lack of relatively easy-to-use sonification tools. In the thesis, these challenges are primarily made visible through the process of prototype design and through the subsequent user study. Nevertheless, the literature review successfully uncovers a number of potential strategies for the realization of humanistic-interpretative sonification design, focusing especially on the concepts of phenomenology of listening and musical sonification. By applying musical sonification, it becomes possible to move beyond the simple representation of data, allowing instead for interpretative approaches. The findings presented in the thesis provide foundations for future research into humanities sonification