THE LVN MIXTAPES: USING AUGMENTED AUDIOTAPES FOR STORY SHARING by Marc Exposito Gomez B.Sc., La Salle - Ramon Llull University (2015) Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, School of Architecture and Planning, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology September 2019 @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019. All rights reserved Author Signature redacted Program in Media Arts and Sciences August 2nd, 2019 Certified by Signature redacted , Deb Roy Professor, Program in Media Arts and Sciences Accepted by Signature redacted MASSACHU~SJTTS INSTITUTE >TodMachover OF TKWLOG-- A emic Head, Program in Media Arts and Sciences OCT04O19 Ti LIBRARES THE LVN MIXTAPES: USING AUGMENTED AUDIOTAPES FOR STORY SHARING by Marc Exposito Gomez Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, School of Architecture and Planning, on August, 2nd, 2019 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences Abstract In the course of this thesis, I present a novel listening medium aimed to increase the awareness of the local community through story dissemination. Supported by the growing collection of recorded conversations from the Local Voices Network (LVN), I propose to use augmented audiotapes and the culture of mixtapes to physically embody the stories and views of the community. The use of cassettes provides a medium for self-reflection, generates curiosity for exploration, and ultimately enables face-to-face interactions and social sharing. This thesis describes the process of designing, building, and experimenting with this participatory media. While a more extensive study is needed to draw firm conclusions, a first pilot suggests that this design can effectively deviate people's activities for a brief period of time in order to explore these stories. This work ultimately aspires to create a platform to bring under-heard community voices to the mass population effectively, and consequently improve today's public dialogue. Thesis Advisor Deb Roy Professor, Program in Media Arts and Sciences THE LVN MIXTAPES: USING AUGMENTED AUDIOTAPES FOR STORY SHARING by Marc Exposito Gomez This thesis has been reviewed and approved by the following committee member Joichi Ito Signature redacted Director, MIT Media Lab Professor of the Practice, Media Arts and Sciences MIT Media Lab THE LVN MIXTAPES: USING AUGMENTED AUDIOTAPES FOR STORY SHARING by Marc Exposito Gomez This thesis has been reviewed and approved by the following connittee member 1/ 1 ~ Signature redacted Katherine Cramer Natalie C. Holton Chair of Letters & Science Professor of Political Science University of Wisconsin-Madison Acknowledgements THANK YOU. First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude towards my advisor, Deb Roy. Thank you, Deb, for the confidence placed on me and pushing me to give my best. I admire you, respect you, and I hope I can continue learning from you. I want to thank my readers, Joi Ito and Kathy Cramer. They have been an excellent source of knowledge and discussions about democracy, public dialogue, and story sharing. I am fortunate to have you as my readers. I am incredibly grateful to be part of a research group such as the Laboratory for Social Machines. Particularly, I would like to thank the following people: Andrew Heyward, Ann Yuan, Anneli Hersh- man, Belen Saldias, Bridgit Mendler, David McClure, Heather Pierce, Juliana Nazar6, Keyla Gomez, Maggie Hughes, Martin Saveski, Naz- mus Saquib, Peter Beshai, Prashanth Vijayaraghavan, Russell Stevens, and Sneha Priscilla. Thank you Nabeel Gillani and Eric Chu. As the quote says, "Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them". I am looking forward to start working on new projects with you again, and drop them a few weeks later. Thank you Lauren Fratamico, Shayne O'Brien, and Tom~s Vega for your friendship and support. Thank you Ivan Fernandez, Maitane Iruretagoyena, Xavier Benavides, and Jose Ramos. I consider you my family. I am happy to report that I still have hair as I write these lines. This would not have been possible without the support and love of my partner, Vicky Zeamer. You inspire me and challenge me. Thank you for dealing with me throughout this process, and I am looking forward to our next adventures. Finally, this work is dedicated to my parents, Felix Exp6sito and Julia G6mez. Qui hauria dit que un noi de la Barceloneta acabaria al MIT? Tot el que s6c 6s grAcies a vosaltres. Us estimo. Contents Today's Public Dialogue 15 The Needs And Complexities Of Being Heard 18 Bursting The Digital Information Bubble 20 Giving Voice to Stories And Under-Heard Communities 20 Disrupting The Public Space Through ParticipatoryMedia 22 The Power Of Audio As A Communication Channel For Storytelling 23 Reflecting On The Need For A Locally-Grounded Listening Medium 24 The Local Voices Network Mixtapes 27 Navigating Stories Through The Mixtape Creation Tool 27 Augmenting PhysicalAudiotapes 32 Designing A Locally-Anchored Cassette Player 33 Evaluation 42 Observationson the Mixtape Creation Tool 43 Observationson the LVN Cassette Player 44 Observationson the Shareability of the Cassettes 45 Discussion 46 Future Work 49 Bibliography 51 "COURAGE is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." WINSTON CHURCHILL IN THE COURSE OF THIS THESIS, I present a novel listening medium aimed to increase the awareness of the local community through story dissemination. Supported by the growing collection of recorded conversations from the Local Voices Network (LVN), I propose to use augmented audiotapes and the culture of mixtapes to physically embody the stories and views of the community. The use of cassettes provides a medium for self-reflection, generates curiosity for explo- ration, and ultimately enables face-to-face interactions and social sharing. This thesis describes the process of designing, building, and experimenting with this participatory media. While a more extensive study is needed to draw firm conclusions, a first pilot suggests that this design can effectively deviate people's activities for a brief pe- riod in order to explore these stories. This work ultimately aspires to create a platform to bring under-heard community voices to the mass population effectively, and consequently improve today's public dialogue. Organization Of This Thesis I start by discussing today's public dialogue and the needs and com- plexities of being heard. I will then present background work on social science, participatory media, and recording and dissemination of stories. Next, I will talk about the Local Voices Network (LVN) and its mission to record under-heard community voices through in- person group conversations. Then, I will explain the need to connect those voices to the mass population through physical means. Follow- ing, I will describe the design and fabrication of the LVN Mixtapes; a novel listening medium that uses augmented audiotapes for story dissemination. After that, I will evaluate the system and discuss the results and observations. Lastly, in the future work section, I suggest improvements and new exciting directions to evolve the work. Today's Public Dialogue THE BEGINNINGS OF THE INTERNET, beyond its military use, promised a future where information can be quickly published, accessible, and organized. While these promises today are a reality, this was not always the case. In the early 90s, after the invention of the World Wide Web, the entry barrier to disseminating content on the Internet was somewhat high. A person who wished to publish content on the Internet needed to have the specific knowledge to create a website. Consequently, the stakeholders at the time were few and rather specialized; mainly digital newspapers and web portals. This paradigm, however, starting shifting in the early 2000S with the rise of Web 2.0. This web emphasized the participatory culture and supported, with ease of use tools, user-generated content. For the first time, the public dialogue also happened in the digital domain. This ease-of-use tools, mainly driven by web blogs, enabled users to generate and easily share stories of their day-to-day, ideological views, and even how-to tutorials. This democratization led to the creation of the first digital communities and the social web. These breath-living communities were generating and consuming content, as well as supporting each other; creating their digital ecosystem. These digital communities peaked with the creation of social net- working platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, and easy access to the Internet through the evolution of smartphones. These plat- forms allowed users to publish multimedia content and quickly share it with their network. This low-entry barrier to social networking enabled the growth of users that quickly shaped according to the norms of the network. Facebook, for example, followed the Friend principle to create its network. These social structures imply that the stories and views shared by its users are kept private to exter- nal users. Other social networks, like Twitter or Instagram, became the opened-channels to spread ideas and opinions, as well as fol- lowing personalities and lifestyles. Ultimately, the nature of these networks facilitates the construction of social groups with people that share similar interests. In some cases, these groups lead to ho- 16 THE LVN MIXTAPES mophily', which has both positive and negative consequences. While 'Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, homophily helps encourage the formation of opinions, it can cre- and James M Cook. Birds of a feather: Homophily 2 in social networks. Annual ate - in extreme cases - echo chambers ; where users from the same review of sociology, 27(1):415-444, 2001 community exclusively interact with one another. 2 Nabeel Gillani, Ann Yuan, Martin Saveski, Soroush Vosoughi, and Deb Roy. Me, my echo chamber, and i: Intro- Media outlets also play a critical role in today's public dialogue.