Application
Integrating AVAnnotate into the classroom meets pedagogical objectives for instructors working with audio and visual material. In this section, I illustrate how AVAnnotate may be used for analysis—specifically, the goal being to develop an argument that considers if feedback and other qualities of shortwave radio are significant and meaningful features of this type of audio recording. Such an assignment requires students to consider the purpose and history of shortwave radio, how the quality of such recordings is a product but also an essential attribute of such recordings, how these waves travel, the reliability of this form of communication, and what transmission means.
The exhibit below breaks down this work in two ways: student groups and color-coded annotations. The student groups illustrate how annotation sets can be uploaded from multiple student groups into a single AVAnnotate project. Plus, the recording's annotations are two different colors, to represent being for (green) or against (red) the above argument. Green annotations argue that the sonic features of shortwave radio are significant, as they construct meaningful transmissions. Red annotations argue that the same sonic features are not significant and, in fact, are inhibitive to transmissions.
| Time | Annotation | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| 10:53–11:00 | High frequency sound is emitted that disrupts the experience of listening to the music. This noise causes a visceral reaction that may even lead those listening at a high volume to completely overlook and ignore the broadcast. Not only is this aesthetically disruptive but, in some cases, the noise may negatively impact the auditory system. | Student Group 4 |
| 7:35–8:25 | The transmission foregrounds the feedback as the broadcasts are in the background. The perceptual order of sonic qualities allow users to practice different forms of attunement that aren't normally available in other forms of listening. | Student Group 3 |
| 1:23–1:37 | A loud sound is emmitted, which at first seems like feedback common to shortwave, but in fact this is music which is slightly skewed due to feedback. Such a realization illustrates how conceptions of noise are always subjective, and for such a reason we must consider any feedback or qualities of shortwave to not be objectively interruptive but involving an experience of meaning making. | Student Group 2 |
| 0:55–1:11 | Radio broadcast is interrupted by the feedback being received. The news is nearly unintelligible due to the feedback overpowering the voice of the broadcaster. While shortwave is a dependable transmitter of information, this information is obscured by the features of such dependency. | Student Group 6 |
| 23:15–23:32 | Movement between broadcasts—which are separated by a pause, a silence—illustrates the active engagement short wave radio provides to both the user and the listener. What we hear is made through interaction with these broadcast frequencies. The silences in short wave radio exhibit listening as a practice of making meaning of, with, and from signals. | Student Group 1 |
| 25:30–25:40 | Multiple broadcasts being picked up and filtered through almost simultaneously. Short wave radio's frequent inability to accurately dial-in to and maintain broadcasts decreases opportunities for sustained intervention. This also decreases the significance and meaning a listener locates in the interaction with this form of radio. | Student Group 5 |
Application 1 at Internet Archive.
IIIF manifest: application/manifest.json