What To Collect

photo: Danielle Scott

We ask that you include the following things when you submit a recorded walk:

• Type of recorder – i.e. Roland Edirol, Marantz, Korg etc.
• Length – in minutes and seconds. Most of the walks we have done ourselves have fallen between 5-15 min. Generally, we feel that this is a good amount of time to describe an interesting sound ecology (it takes about 10 min. to cross Trinity Bellwoods for example), but you are free to go longer or shorter.
• Temperature/Weather – in terms of temperature, and dominant condition. “20C, cloudy with light wind” is sufficient. The reason we want this data is because we are interested in hearing what happens when someone revisits a path at a different time of year. The same street could sound completely different, or surprisingly similar, depending on the weather.
• Date/Time – Just the basic info, “08/08/09 - 4PM” Again, this is so other users can explore the contingencies of different sound walks.
• Where you went – Roughly describe two coordinate points in the city. This is a textual supplement to the GIS data you provide.

In the end, we're not asking for too much information. Here’s an example: July 1st 09. Roland Edirol: 9:21PM – 19C; cloudy – distant concert, power generator, tall grass and soccer (powerline corridor – Runnymede Jane just north of St. Clair). This is the information you need (along with your .mp3 and GIS data) to add a walk to the database.

Next Step - Adding your walk to the database