Sound Spheres

Sound Spheres combines computational digital media and storytelling techne to provide an interface with which users can create and experience interactive aural narratives. Sound Spheres was conceptualized and created to encourage active engagement with sound sources (the colored spheres) representing narrative elements. Participants may engage these sound spheres to construct aural narratives using multiple interactive techniques. As participants do not know the contents of sound spheres, narratives constructed using this technique are serendipitous, similar to actively tuning a radio from one station to another, hoping to find interesting aural content. Meaning is supplied by the participant's interpretation, which, in turn, depends on memory, cultural context, and previous hearing experiences. Sound Spheres suggests that engaging narratives can be created from non-dialogic sound sources. And, through its remix of radio, aural narratives, and non-linear composition, Sound Spheres demonstrates new methods for creating and experiencing interactive digital storytelling.