Interdisciplinary Aspects

In developing this proposal, we realized that much of what we intend to do will require significant involvement by other areas within the University. Indeed, it was part of our plan to create an atmosphere for fluid, interdisciplinary work -- the nature of an evolving technology demands this approach. We also had no desire to duplicate resources that presently exist at Columbia, where our mission is better served by taking advantage of what we already have.

Thus we will coordinate the work and resources we propose with a number of current Columbia ventures, including cooperative projects with the Media Center for Art History, the Center for New Media (Journalism), and the Digital Libraries project (through CRIA). We also plan to work closely with Frank Moretti and Maurice Matiz at the Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, and Ann Kirschner at Columbia Media Enterises as our proposal unfolds.

We have spoken with colleagues in several Departments that would become directly involved in digital audio work through this proposal. We discovered a wonderful spirit of cooperation as we began to explore cross-disciplinary aspects of the proposal.

Computer Science

Many aspects of our proposal engage research interests in Computer Science, and in fact may best be located structurally within the CS Department itself (several of the graduate fellowships, the Senior Faculty position, etc.). Our initial meetings with Kathy McKeown led to additional discussions with several CS Faculty members. The general response to our interdisciplinary proposal is quite favorable -- Professor Steve Feiner in particular is very interested in resources that would allow him to explore the auditory modality in his human-computer interface work. Many other CS faculty research interests could tie into our proposal, for no concentrated digital audio expertise in CS currently exists at Columbia. We imagine that our proposal can work to enhance both the Music Department and the Computer Science Department, creating a new opportunity for education and research development.

Obviously the structural implications of a new, interdisciplinary construction will need to be fully examined by the CS Faculty. The opportunity and desire for a rich, collaborative research agenda certainly exists, however.

Psychology

In a similar fashion, parts of our proposal intersect with the Psychology Department. We have had extended discussions over the past year with Professor Robert Remez, whose work in speech modelling and perception would directly benefit from the advanced audio technology resources we will put in place. This collaboration will open several new funding avenues for Columbia.

Much of contemporary music theory work overlaps significantly with current psychological research in perception and cognition (see the projects involving Professors Fred Lerdahl and Jonathan Kramer in this proposal for examples). Music Faculty member Fred Lerdahl has been speaking with colleagues in the Psychology Department (Prof. Tory Higgins and Prof. Lynn Cooper) about a "target of opportunity" appointment that would bring a world-renowned music cognition researcher to Columbia. The research resources we envision in this proposal would assist greatly in this effort, and the recruitment of this individual will solidify our reputation as a leader in audio research.

Medical Center

We are already doing collaborative work with the Columbia Medical Center (see the Sonic Rehabilitation project for short description of this work). Professor Claude Ghez has shown strong support for this initiative, and imagines that we may be able to open entire new areas of medical research through the innovative use of audio technologies. We expect this research, and data auralization research in general, to be a lucrative source of opportunity in the very near future.

We expect that work with the Medical Center will continue on a project-by-project basis, as the Medical Center is primarily geared towards this form of research (clinical studies, focused therapeutic research, etc.). By having a foundation of audio expertise and research resources in place, we can guarantee that we will be positioned to explore and take full advantage of new audio/medical advances.

International Aspects

The Music Department has always had a strong international dimension to the student and faculty population. Our network of students and alumni can be strengthened even further by the deployment of technologies enabling easy international cooperation.

The technological base that we propose will also allow us to continue with a number of initiatives we are currently pursuing. These initiatives are designed to keep Columbia at the forefront of the international music scene. A representative sampling of these initiatives include:

Professor Tristan Murail and CMC Assistant Director Thanassis Rikakis have been negotiating with Eric De Visscher, Artistic Director of the premiere Eupropean psychoacoustics and music research institute IRCAM (Paris, France) to build an artistic and technological exchange program This program would involve appropriate transfers of technology, expertise, and student exchanges.
CMC Assistant Director Thanassis Rikakis has been pursuing a cooperative research/exchange program with the Institute for Psychoacoustics and Music at the Medical Center of the University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
As described in the Funding section, Thanassis Rikakis is also developing a significant proposal in cooperation with the European Children's Television Center to show the potential of Digital Television in musical performance and pedagogy for the European Union/Eurovision.
Professor Dieter Christensen is starting an online journal this summer, YTM MUSIC REVIEWS ONLINE, in cooperation with the International Council for Traditional Music (UNESCO NGO) and under the auspices of UNESCO. The journal will include links to text, graphics and sound samples. Students in the Music Department will be involved in all aspects of production and content creation for the Journal.
The Center for Ethnomusicology is presently involved in a cooperative project with UNESCO and AUVIDIS (Paris). The project involves the digital production and mastering of compact disks of traditional music in a scholarly edition, To date, more than 20 CDs have been produced by the Center for Ethnomusicology.
Professor Brad Garton and CMC Technical Directory Terry Pender have been discussing several joint acoustics research projects as well as an on-going cultural exchange program with Professor Akira Takaoka, presently working at Keio University and the Kunitachi College of Music, and the newly-named Director of the computer music program at the Tokyo College of Engineering (Japan).
Professor Brad Garton is also working with Luis Jure, Director of the newly-formed Computer Music Center at the National University of Uruguay (Montevideo), to establish a visiting scholar and music-exchange program involving several South American countries and Columbia University.
As mentioned in the Projects section, Professor Walter Frisch is interested in working with the "CHARM" database project at the University of Southampton (England).

It will be vitally important for us to have the technology in place to facilitate these international programs. We can foresee a time when one of the primary characteristics for evaluating a top University will be the degree of "internationalization" enjoyed by the University. Columbia is presently very well-situated in this regard. We plan to use our technological edge in the Music Department to press our advantage in this area.