The implications of the 3 O’s policy on building collaborative sound archives: the SOMA project

Abstract

Work developed by ethnomusicologists often generates different types of sound files. Some are personal files that constitute private repositories, others are hosted by institutions, others are collaborative files constructed with recorded subjects. At the University of Aveiro in Portugal we have developed musical and sound projects with different profiles. One of the most recent occured between 2013-2015 with the development of a research project called Skopeofonia. A team composed of academics and unemployed young musicians created a musical and sound archive in a Cape Verdean neighborhood in Portugal through shared research practices. The success of Skopeofonia led us to design the project SOMA - Sounds and Memories of Aveiro in 2018. SOMA aims to construct a space of memory in the region of Aveiro through shared research action and the mobilization of senior citizens to construct a collective repository of sounds, music and memories. In June 2015, the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation put into public debate the 3 O's policy (Open Science, Open Innovation, and Open to the World). The main idea was that research funded by public funds should contribute to society through free access to data and research results, or through something greater than the benefit to scientists themselves. In this paper I intend to present partial results of SOMA and to discuss the use of shared research practices to construct an archive in the region of Aveiro and the implications of the 3 O's policy on building sound archives. I reflect on the challenges of building collaborative archives and how sound files can make a valuable contribution to respond to the problems identified in the United Nations Agenda 2030.