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Putting Web Audio API to the test: Introducing WebAudioXML as a pedagogical platform

Hans Lindetorp, Kjetil Falkenberg
Web technologies in general and Web Audio API in particular have a great potential as a learning platform for developing interactive sound and music applications. Earlier studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm have led to a wide range of student projects but have also indicated that there is a high threshold for novice programmers to understand and use Web Audio API. We developed the WebAudioXML coding environment to solve this problem, and added a statistics module to analyze student works. Three groups of students with technical respectively artistic background participated through online courses by building interactive, sound-based applications. We analysed the projects to understand the impact WebAudioXML has on creativity and the learning process. The results indicate that WebAudioXML can be a useful platform for teaching and learning how to build online audio applications. The platform makes mapping between user interactions and audio parameters accessible for novice programmer and supports artists in successfully realizing their design ideas. We show that templates can be a great help for the students to get started but also a limitation for them to expand ideas beyond the presented scope.
            
@inproceedings{2021_10,
  abstract = {Web technologies in general and Web Audio API in particular have a great potential as a learning platform for developing interactive sound and music applications. Earlier studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm have led to a wide range of student projects but have also indicated that there is a high threshold for novice programmers to understand and use Web Audio API. We developed the WebAudioXML coding environment to solve this problem, and added a statistics module to analyze student works. Three groups of students with technical respectively artistic background participated through online courses by building interactive, sound-based applications. We analysed the projects to understand the impact WebAudioXML has on creativity and the learning process. The results indicate that WebAudioXML can be a useful platform for teaching and learning how to build online audio applications. The platform makes mapping between user interactions and audio parameters accessible for novice programmer and supports artists in successfully realizing their design ideas. We show that templates can be a great help for the students to get started but also a limitation for them to expand ideas beyond the presented scope.},
  address = {Barcelona, Spain},
  author = {Lindetorp, Hans and Falkenberg, Kjetil},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Web Audio Conference},
  editor = {Joglar-Ongay, Luis and Serra, Xavier and Font, Frederic and Tovstogan, Philip and Stolfi, Ariane and A. Correya, Albin and Ramires, Antonio and Bogdanov, Dmitry and Faraldo, Angel and Favory, Xavier},
  month = {July},
  pages = {},
  publisher = {UPF},
  series = {WAC '21},
  title = {Putting Web Audio API to the test: Introducing WebAudioXML as a pedagogical platform},
  year = {2021},
  ISSN = {2663-5844}
}