On Monday November 9th, Responsive Ecologies Lab (RE/Lab) RA Melanie McBride will facilitate an inter-sensory talk and walk focused on the urban ambiances and ecologies in and around the RE/Lab with special guest Dr Milena Droumeva of Simon Fraser University. Drawing on applied and critical perspectives from sensory studies, acoustic ecology, critical pedagogy and smell walking/mapping, this workshop introduces practices of ‘sensory inquiry’ and ‘DIY sense making’ as a means of relating with, representing and constructing inter-sensory ambiances. Through a short inter-sensory walk involving listening, smelling, touching and (maybe) tasting different ambiances of place and (urban) space, participants will gain an understanding of more embodied, critical, inclusive and socioculturally situated approaches to studying the senses. Participants will be introduced to transdisciplinary techniques of engaging with and representing sensory, spatial, material and sociocultural ambiances that exceed traditional ethnographic methods, through an emphasis on non-visual stimuli such as smell, sound, touch, temperature, movement and bodily state.
Workshop facilitators
Dr. Milena 
Droumeva is the Glenfraser Professor in Sound Studies at Simon Fraser University. An experienced sound researcher, multimodal ethnographer and soundwalking enthusiast, Milena has been recording and listening for over 14 years in Vancouver and Europe as part of her urban soundscapes and mobile media cultures research. You can find her musings on sound and other material goodies at http://natuaural.com follow @ambientfluff
Melanie McBride is a doctoral candidate in Communications and Culture at York University where she is researching inter-sensory learning and communications practices involving smell (and, increasingly, taste). Melanie’s developing practices of ‘sensory inquiry‘ are informed by her sensory ethnographic field work in Canada and France and her background as an inner city educator. Melanie is also a researcher with Ryerson’s RE/Lab, where she has created a DIY smell lab. Find her online at:
melaniemcbride.net
https://www.flickr.com/photos/multisensorymel/ https://soundcloud.com/multisensorymel
@multisensorymel
Co-Facilitator: Daniel Harley
Daniel Harley is a Research Assistant at the Synaesthetic Media Lab (SynLab) at Ryerson University, studying interactive narratives for tangible and embodied technologies. He also has a background in music, with over ten years of experience working as a violinist in the Greater Toronto Area.