Abstract

In this talk I will present an exploratory study exploring the potential of audio recording as a form of sentimental memory capture. Drawing on data from four family households, I will spotlight participants’ attitudes towards sounds and audio recording, their existing recording practices and the types of sounds that they record when given a digital sound recorder. The findings indicate that a variety of different sounds are were important important,to people, for a diversity of reasons. I will discuss participants’ experiences of listening back to sounds, illuminating some of the unique affordances of audio recordings as a form of sentimental memory capture. Finally, I will discuss the design challenges which this study raises for the capture, playback and archiving of sentimental audio.