Sound as Historical Material: Developing a New Way of Cataloguing, Describing and Accessing Sound in the Archive
Seth Ellis (QCA)
Abstract: In audio visual collections, a single sound recording can provide the same multilayered information as a photograph: a multiplicity of details about experience that is physical and emotional. The examination of sound in this way can provide a rich understanding of experience.
Seth Ellis, the 2019 Mittelheuser Scholar-in-Residence, investigated new ways of cataloguing sounds within the State Library’s sound collections—both historical, and newly collected- and developed a tool to make historical sound more searchable and perceptible by researchers and the general public.
About: Seth is a Program Leader and Senior Lecturer in the Interactive Media program at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. He is an interface designer and narrative artist. He has worked with galleries and museums on their collections and exhibitions as well as shown his own work in Australia, Europe and the United States.
