Sounding Out IS? Moods and Affective Entanglements in Experiental Computing

How do we experience living in a world in which soundscapes from digital technologies are increasingly pervading our everyday lives? In this paper, we pay attention to moods, ambiances, and other ephemeral aspects that give shape to how working with digital technology feels. Too often glossed over in search of more concrete narratives of ‘effect’ or ‘impact’ of digital technology, we argue that the socio-materiality of practice can be complemented by a notion of affective entanglement; i.e., the embodied materiality of feeling. Highlighting in particular how soundscapes and noise from ubiquitous computers performs and matters in the emergent composition of embodied being and subjectivity, we urge IS researchers to pay attention to everyday phenomena that involve digital technologies. Towards this aim, we present three autoethnographic vignettes that help unpack situations in which sounds shape or perform certain kinds of subjectivities and felt, embodied dispositions. Based on these everyday narratives, we analyse the different ways in which soundscapes from digital technology shape the body’s ability to act, feel, think, and experience. We conclude this research in progress paper by suggesting some opportunities for advancing a material, sensory, and ‘experiential turn’ in the IS discipline.