The Sound of Water: sensing a wetland intervention through interactive environmental audio

Abstract

The Sound of Water ( https://flow-mer.org.au/napnap ) microsite documents an environmental intervention at Nap Nap Swamp, a wetland in the western reaches of Australia’s Murrumbidgee River. A collaboration between a designer (Whitelaw) and an ecologist (Wassens), it was supported by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office. We use audiovisual data storytelling to engage audiences with Nap Nap as it transitions from a dry to wet state. Focusing on a 9-day period in mid-2020, we combine audio and hydrological data to show the ecosystem’s response to a managed environmental flow, narrating this change through the wetland’s charismatic frog species, including the threatened Southern Bell Frog. In this paper we reflect on the technical and creative contributions of the project in visualising environmental audio, as well as its significance for wider practice. We highlight the value of creatively re-purposing ecological data and the importance of multi-stakeholder networks, and we argue that our celebration in this project of environmental management, intervention and care should be a key concern for future digital ecologies practices.