Data from research project entitled: MAMI Tech Toolkit: Utilising Action Research to Develop a Technological Toolkit to Facilitate Access to Music-Making. Engineering Doctorate.

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Ward, Asha (2021) Data from research project entitled: MAMI Tech Toolkit: Utilising Action Research to Develop a Technological Toolkit to Facilitate Access to Music-Making. Engineering Doctorate.

Music is essential to most of us, it can light up all areas of the brain, help develop skills with communication, help to establish identity, and allow a unique path for expression. However, barriers to access or gaps in provision can restrict access to music-making and sound exploration for some people. Research has shown that technology can provide unique tools to access music-making but that technology is underused by practitioners. This action research project details the development and design of a technological toolkit called MAMI – the Modular Accessible Musical Instrument technology toolkit - in conjunction with stakeholders from four research sites. Stakeholders included music therapists, teachers, community musicians, and children and young people. The overarching aims of the research were: to explore how technology was incorporated into practices of music creation and sound exploration; to explore the issues that stakeholders had with current music technology; to create novel musical tools and tools that match criteria as specified by stakeholders, and address issues as found in a literature review; to assess the effectiveness of these novel tools with a view to improving practices; and to navigate propagation of the practices, technologies, and methods used to allow for transferability into the wider ecology. Outcomes of the research include: a set of design considerations that contribute to knowledge around the design and practical use of technological tools for music-making in special educational needs settings; a series of methodological considerations to help future researchers and developers navigate the process of using action research to create new technological tools with stakeholders; and the MAMI Tech Toolkit – a suite of four bespoke hardware tools and accompanying software - as an embodiment of the themes that emerged from: the cycles of action research; the design considerations; and a philosophical understanding of music creation that foregrounds it as an situated activity within a social context.

Dataset Details

Research / Data Type:

Text

Creators:

Creators	Email
Ward, Asha	asha.blatherwick@gmail.com

Groups:

Faculty of Media & Communication

Collection period:

From	To
1 October 2015	1 October 2019

Date:

24 September 2021

Date type:

Publication

Data collection method:

The research process involved both action research (by planning, acting, and reflecting with stakeholders) and technological solution development (by reviewing the literature around the development of music technology in the field of music therapy and interactions with stakeholders to inform technological development). These two elements were intertwined throughout the research ending with the final MAMI Tech Toolkit. The data collection process involved stakeholder meetings with multiple stakeholders, individual discussions with key stakeholders, and practical sessions with the children and young people using technology. The stakeholders involved with this research are both the central users of the technology (the children and young people at the school) as well as those facilitating this use (the practitioners that surround them). The research sites and participants selected as stakeholders represent practical users of accessible music technology and therefore could illuminate issues around such use. Purposeful sampling has been used to gain stakeholders, this has been criterion based in that the stakeholders have interest in using, have used, or do use music technology. The selection of these stakeholders has been opportunistic in that they have presented themselves throughout the undertaking of the research activities. Where the sample has been stakeholders in the form of children and young people, they have been selected by stakeholders in a snowball (or chain) manner, in that the practitioners know of children, or know of teachers of children, that had an interest in being part of this research, which could also be considered criterion sampling in of itself. The research approach used throughout the data collection can be considered to be an example of ‘starting where you are’ in that it was began through personal interest and with several connections to stakeholders already in place. Throughout the research there was an aim to enact an insider stance, in that the research endeavoured to meet people where they were, and to carry out the research by following the stakeholders lead where possible. A key mechanism throughout this research was the use of the tools within the kit as ‘technology probes’ (Hutchinson et al 2003). The ‘tool as probe’ mechanism was used to elicit requirements from the stakeholders through an iterative design process. Technology probes included in the MAMI Tech Toolkit were developed throughout the research with each element of the kit moving through a series of iterations.

Statement on legal, ethical and access issues:

risk of disclosing participants' identities was mitigated by removing references to real names and other identifying information.

Funder name(s):

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Grant reference number(s):

EP/L016540/1

Keywords:

music technology, sen, accessibility, hardware, music, nime

Data processing and preparation activities:

Data was taken via hand-written field notes or transcribed from audio where indicated.

Status:

Unpublished

Publisher:

Bournemouth University

Asha Ward

Contact email address:

bordar@bournemouth.ac.uk

Record Details

DOI:	https://doi.org/10.18746/bmth.data.00000196
Depositing User:	Asha Ward
Year Deposited:	24 Sep 2021 08:08
Revision:	21
Last Modified:	03 Nov 2021 16:07

Available Files

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AshaWardEngDData.zip

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