Papers by Hadar Levy-Landesberg
New Media & Society
This article points to the long-standing and significant role that the sound interface plays in s... more This article points to the long-standing and significant role that the sound interface plays in shaping the ways we attend to media by considering its phatic function. Employing a reverse engineering approach, the article consists of an analysis of historical transformations in the regimen of attention produced by sound media to date, followed by discourse analyses of scientific and industry communities of digital sound interface design. Introducing the term “phatic alignment” to describe how media and humans are arranged in space and adjusted to communicate with one another, this article points to the increasing hold of the digital sound interface over the user’s attention and identifies the premises affording this trend. The article argues that in abstracting the human ear as an automated “phatic threshold” that regulates the user’s attention, digital sound interface design situates the user in constant attentiveness to media and sets the stage for next-generation communication te...
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Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 2014
In this article, we use the somewhat unusual lens of joke translation to examine the process of "... more In this article, we use the somewhat unusual lens of joke translation to examine the process of "user-generated globalization" – cross-national diffusion of content by Internet users. We tracked the translations of 100 popular jokes in English into 9 languages and analyzed them quantitatively and qualitatively. Our findings indicate that (1) web-based diffusion of translated jokes is common but varies greatly, both between languages and between jokes; (2) "global hits" differ from "translation-resistant" jokes in their themes and incorporation of American markers; and (3)translated joke versions tend to include only minor cultural alternations (such as name shifing), thereby preserving the original messages. Overall, these findings suggest that Internet jokes serve as powerful (albeit ofen invisible) agents of globalization and Americanization.
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Journal Papers by Hadar Levy-Landesberg
Theory, Culture & Society, 2022
This article explores the relationship between psychotherapy and sound reproduction technologies ... more This article explores the relationship between psychotherapy and sound reproduction technologies from the early 20th century to the present. Subscribing to a media genealogy approach, it traces the changing status of the recorded voice in therapy as set against broader transformations in the field of mental health. Delving into the recorded voice’s diverse applications across psychotherapeutic approaches, it demonstrates how technology worked to unravel the temporal and spatial formations of the therapeutic setting, thereby unsettling established hierarchies, terminologies, and techniques while at the same time supporting the integrity of the therapeutic situation. The article points to sound media’s capacity to bifurcate the voice into somatic and expressive elements and reassemble them in various configurations, thereby producing the ‘psyche’ through alternative access points. The story of the recorded voice in therapy provides a glimpse into the way technological affordances inform therapeutic concepts and practices, which in turn implement technology in study, training, and treatment.
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New Media & Society, 2021
This paper points to the longstanding and significant role that the sound interface plays in shap... more This paper points to the longstanding and significant role that the sound interface plays in shaping the ways we attend to media by considering its phatic function. Employing a reverse engineering approach, the paper consists of an analysis of historical transformations in the regimen of attention produced by sound media to date, followed by discourse analyses of scientific and industry communities of digital sound interface design. Introducing the term "phatic alignment" to describe how media and humans are arranged in space and adjusted to communicate with one another, this paper points to the increasing hold of the digital sound interface over the user's attention and identifies the premises affording this trend. The paper argues that in abstracting the human ear as an automated "phatic threshold" that regulates the user's attention, digital sound interface design situates the user in constant attentiveness to media and sets the stage for next-generation communication technologies.
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Sound Studies, 2021
Urban sound maps are audiovisual representations of cities created by associating sounds and urba... more Urban sound maps are audiovisual representations of cities created by associating sounds and urban landmarks on a digital geographic map. Fusing cartography and audio recording, urban sound maps prompt a rethinking of how notions of places and spaces are being shaped, not just by maps but also by diverse sound technologies. Drawing from geography, sound, and media studies scholarship, this article explores how urban sound maps inform current discussions about digital place-making practices, as well as ongoing conversations about how maps offer "a way of thinking about the world." Examining various sound mapping projects, it consists of a two-part analysis, integrating a phenomenology of user interface and "deep listening." The first part pinpoints the assorted place-making practices associated with urban sound mapping involving initiators, recordists, map users, and media and their multilayered politics. The second part delineates the techno-sensory interplay set in motion by the digital interface of the sound map and articulates its new listening-based cartography. The concluding section outlines the ways in which urban sound maps reiterate but also exceed previous models of spatiality prescribed by visual maps and other sound technologies, producing an unsettled model of subjectivity and rearranging established conceptual relationships between places, spaces, and users.
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International Journal of Communication, 2017
This article takes sound as its analytical point of departure in asking the following question: W... more This article takes sound as its analytical point of departure in asking the following question: What does sound do in television news? Exploring the conventions of sound used by producers of Israeli television news, from the signature tune to the various news items, this study reveals the role of sound as part of journalistic framing practices but also as an insidious element challenging the visual as well as the construction of framing. We suggest that inquiring into the acoustic features of television news may offer new insights into the news genre and its practices. We propose the term soundscape as a complementary conceptual metaphor to framing with the aim of counteracting the visual bias dominating the academic discourse of political communication and journalism studies.
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Papers by Hadar Levy-Landesberg
Journal Papers by Hadar Levy-Landesberg