Podcast 195: Mark Ballora

It's good to have friends! I ran into a bit of a buzzsaw this week, and all of a sudden it looked like I didn't have an interview! I put out a call on Facebook, and people really rose to the challenge - including this week's participant. Mark Ballora was suggested by Meg Schedel, and a quick look at his website made me agree - he was a perfect guest. I've been interested in the idea of data sonification; since we are in an age of Big Data, it seems like there has to be more ways of engaging with data than just looking at colorful charts. Mark, from Penn State, is deep in the heart of this, and has been working with data ranging from weather changes to heart rate tracking. But what is most interesting is his willingness to jump into almost any data 'stew' and see what comes of it - as well as his willingness to makes something musical out of the result. I really appreciated Mark taking us through the various details of putting together a data sonification, and it is also interesting to hear him describe the process that he has gone through in order to validate the results on both the artistic and the scientific side. I hope that you learn as much from this chat as I did. Enjoy!