Academic Publications
A probably-not-up-to-date list of my academic publications. Please let me know if you are not in academia or for any reason are unable to access these papers but would like to read them. I would be happy to send them to you.
Three Ways to Destroy a Sound, NordiCHI 2024
This paper presents a set of three different designed objects which each take a different approach to the same concept - the active destruction of sound recordings. I situate this work within sustainability studies, political ecologies of technology, and constraints-based design. Following this I describe the design and development of the devices themselves, introduce the final built objects, and attempt to analyze what they might represent. The paper takes the form of an annotated portfolio, in which the objects are shown, analyzed, and critically evaluated.
The Period Instrument, NIME 2024 (Best Paper Award)
This paper presents the Period Instrument, an interface for musical expression that requires the input of menstrual blood in order to be played. Drawing from both experimental musical instrument design and feminist design, the resulting object exists both as a sound-making device as well as a vector for challenging normative principles of musical instrument design. Moreover, the Period Instrument represents a particular representation and physical embodiment of time. We will discuss the design and technological development of the instrument, focusing primarily on how designing with and for time constraints can result in new interfaces for musical expression.
The Memory Cloud: Personal media libraries as affordance and constraint, NIME 2025
The Memory Cloud is a musical instrument that uses a player’s own library of personal recordings as sonic material. This paper presents the design of the instrument, situating it within sustainability HCI studies and constraints-based design, before describing the instrument being used by two musicians in a professional context. Over 2000 sounds from the musician’s personal cloud library, dating back over 10 years, were placed in the instrument as the only sonic material available for exploring. I argue that a radically small scale and personal approach could be one strategy for addressing the issues of longevity in NIME, and I suggest that using personal media libraries presents a potential affordance and constraint for musical instrument design.
The Book of Knowledge of Impractical Musical Devices, SMC 2025
This paper presents a set of three interactive sound objects, collectively titled the Book of Knowledge of Impractical Musical Devices. Loosely based on an early 13th century Islamic engineering handbook, the instruments were designed to adhere strictly to a set of design constraints. In doing so, the resulting designs raise questions about the role digital musical interfaces can play in interrogating our relationship to media. I will describe the design and development of the instruments, including technical details and conceptual background, particularly focusing on how the project designed for and with the selected constraints.
I Am the Ball, AM.ICAD 2025
This paper presents the design of an original musical interface for a one-off performance in conjunction with a live football match. The instrument was built using a repurposed Gametrak string controller, transforming it into a haptic device that embraced limitations as a generative design space for musical expression. The paper will focus on the design of the interface and its use in rehearsals and performance, presenting it in context of other Gametrak-based work. I will argue that the hardware functions as a passive haptic device, and that the constraints provide opportunities for performance. I will also suggest that a growing body of Gametrak-based work warrants further investigation.
Robots for Distant Musicians, DIS 2024
This paper presents Robots for Distant Musicians (RFDM), a project developed as part of a residency at the MICA Game Lab in Baltimore, Maryland in 2020-21. A set of musically responsive robots were built that could be accessed through existing online communication platforms, enabling their control from anywhere in the world. This resulted in a series of playful interactions which revealed underlying tensions in the systems that the world came to depend upon during the pandemic. I propose to bring several of the robots from this project to the DIS Playful Experiences Demotrack, allowing users both locally and from around the world to control them through musical sound.
Music Within Limits, ICT4S 2022
The creation of music relies heavily on, and is tightly intertwined with, mass production and industrialisation, making it virtually inseparable from many of the fundamental issues that make up the climate crisis today. Music (and the arts more generally) has the potential to play a role in influencing behaviour and effecting structural change by showcasing the issues at play and raising awareness around the magnitude of the crisis. However, digital music making contains an embedded political ecology and problematic history which must be assessed and acknowledged in order to effectively leverage this power. Therefore this paper will situate digital music within a cultural history of industrialisation, with all of the ecology contained therein. Building upon this, a set of approaches will be laid out that draw from established ICT4S concepts of limits theory and heuristic design, combined with artistic practice, proposing potential ways forward that will encourage digital music making to move towards a sustainable future and position musical tools to challenge societal norms.
The Singing Shower: A melody-sensitive interface for physical interaction and efficient energy consumption, SMC 2022 (Best Presentation Award)
This paper proposes an interface based on melodic input, encouraging a user to sing in order to interact with a device. We describe the early stages of designing and prototyping a sound-reactive shower, which is controlled by a user singing to control the flow of water. We then discuss the implications of this design with regards to energy and resource efficiency, as well as being a form of provocation and experimental interface design. Interaction design has an important role to play in facilitating sustainable behaviour in the household. We propose that sonic interfaces such as this can contribute to this area of work, and that an interface based on melodic input can be used to seamlessly activate and deactivate a system while using hands and vision to accomplish other actions and reducing energy consumption. In this paper, the prototype is described, evaluated and results are discussed. Finally, directions for future work and extensions of this system are proposed.