{"id":18921,"date":"2026-03-03T08:38:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T13:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/?p=18921"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:07:36","slug":"the-ways-of-knowing-a-multi-channel-audio-event-comes-to-uri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/news\/the-ways-of-knowing-a-multi-channel-audio-event-comes-to-uri\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ways of Knowing: a multi-channel audio event comes to URI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 3 \u2013 The URI Center for the Humanities<\/a> is hosting “Ways of Knowing,” an audio event presented by the radio show World According to Sound at 7 pm on March 11. Co-producers Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett will be hosting guest lectures, media training for faculty, and hold student workshops focusing on podcasting, audio production and sonic storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 70 minutes, the audience will sit in a dark room surrounded by powerful speakers while wearing eye masks. The event walks through vibrations of the Golden Gate Bridge, footsteps of ants, ancient recordings and contemporary research translated into soundscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re so glued to our phones and we’re not unplugging and being in the moment,\u201d director of the Center for the Humanities, Eve Sterne<\/a> said. \u201cWe’re constantly looking for that next email, that next text message, that next like on social media and I think that this is a way of being mindful and in the moment and thinking about what we can learn and experience from sound, from an immersive sound experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event aims to inspire attentive listening, encouraging audience members to step away from their screens and reconsider the humanities through sound. While much of today\u2019s media and information is consumed through visuals, \u201cWays of Knowing\u201d offers an opportunity to rethink how knowledge is formed and communicated when interpreted through sound. For communication students, this offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the role of sound across media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo much of communication is based on sound and listening, whether it\u2019s television, podcasting or radio,\u201d Sterne said. \u201cThis could open new ideas about what students can do with sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the evening performance, Hoff and Harnett will present a free afternoon lecture titled \u201cMedia Objects\u201d at 3 p.m. on March 11. The talk will explore how everyday objects shape perception and meaning, expanding the day\u2019s focus on how media influences human experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that will likely produce the kind of discomfort that is actually really productive for anybody who’s receptive to learning something new about the world,\u201d Scott Kushner, chair of communication studies, said. \u201cThis is bringing the academic world of sound studies, which I’ve known as a theoretical category or a tradition within the humanities branch of media studies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current landscape of digital media prioritizes visuals, particularly through social media platforms built around short-form video content. Much of this content is designed to be watched without sound, even relying on captions as users scroll. By removing sight and emphasizing hearing, Ways of Knowing challenges this concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy jostling us and forcing us to spend an hour in the dark, hearing things by deprivileging the sense that is really the gateway into that universe, I think it has the opportunity to bring the stakes of the immediate environment that we take for granted to the surface,\u201d Kushner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center for Humanities hopes the event will resonate across majors, from humanities and communication students to members of the wider URI community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never done anything like this before,\u201d Sterne said. \u201cMost of our programming is a speaker at a podium. This is different. I\u2019m very excited about the immersive sound experience and how it might inspire us to think differently about the humanities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ways of Knowing will take place March 11 at 7 p.m. Location and registration details are available through the URI Center for the Humanities website. The afternoon lecture, Media Objects, begins at 3 p.m. and is open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Erin Malinn \u201928, journalism, Intern for the College of Arts and Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World According to Sound<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5153,"featured_media":18922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-points-of-pride-2026"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18923,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18921\/revisions\/18923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}