{"title":"Listening Beyond the Human: The Autonomous Recording Unit and the Ethics of Sound in Biodiversity Conservation","authors":"Mickey Vallee","doi":"10.1177/12063312231210179","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Sound technologies and sound sensor networks play a crucial role in our understanding of biodiversity loss in conservation biology and the environmental sciences. Among these technologies, the autonomous recording unit (ARU) has been widely used for studying longitudinal biodiversity loss. This article draws on fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017 at a bioacoustics research laboratory to explore the significance of the ARU, developed by Wildlife Acoustics, as the central component of the research network for biodiversity conservation. While it is commonly acknowledged in Science and Technology Studies (STS) that research instruments are not neutral data collectors, this article examines how the ARU is deployed and programmed, and how it transcends the limitations of human-centered listening by (a) shifting the focus away from the perceiving human subject and (b) promoting a global ethic of response and responsibility as sound becomes more democratized in scientific practices.","PeriodicalId":46749,"journal":{"name":"Space and Culture","volume":"33 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Space and Culture","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/12063312231210179","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CULTURAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Sound technologies and sound sensor networks play a crucial role in our understanding of biodiversity loss in conservation biology and the environmental sciences. Among these technologies, the autonomous recording unit (ARU) has been widely used for studying longitudinal biodiversity loss. This article draws on fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017 at a bioacoustics research laboratory to explore the significance of the ARU, developed by Wildlife Acoustics, as the central component of the research network for biodiversity conservation. While it is commonly acknowledged in Science and Technology Studies (STS) that research instruments are not neutral data collectors, this article examines how the ARU is deployed and programmed, and how it transcends the limitations of human-centered listening by (a) shifting the focus away from the perceiving human subject and (b) promoting a global ethic of response and responsibility as sound becomes more democratized in scientific practices.
期刊介绍：
Space and Culture is an interdisciplinary journal that fosters the publication of reflections on a wide range of socio-spatial arenas such as the home, the built environment, architecture, urbanism, and geopolitics. it covers Sociology, in particular, Qualitative Sociology and Contemporary Ethnography; Communications, in particular, Media Studies and the Internet; Cultural Studies; Urban Studies; Urban and human Geography; Architecture; Anthropology; and Consumer Research. Articles on the application of contemporary theoretical debates in cultural studies, discourse analysis, virtual identities, virtual citizenship, migrant and diasporic identities, and case studies are encouraged.
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