ToxSampler: Locative sound art exploration of the Toxic Release Inventory
Abstract
Regulatory geographic datasets that inform citizen’s lives are, in
general, responsive to engaged search and visual, attentive browsing,
but are not designed for directly informing the lived context.
The density of sensors and software interfaces present in mobile
devices allows for integration of these resources with contextual
applications. ToxSampler is an iOS application that modifies the
immediate environmental audio scene with associated data from
the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency. The application applies digital signal
processing (DSP) to the microphone signal based upon the location
of the participant and associated TRI data releases. The system,
as a result, affords an informed awareness of the datascape
through an immediate augmentation of the sensed setting.