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.