Computational Ethnomusicology: Methodologies for a New Field

Understanding symbol systems like music or language is one of the great challenges of the humanities. Computational approaches are increasingly applied for the analysis of such systems. However, the semantic gap between involved fields in humanities and computer science still significantly impedes the development of shared research methodologies. In this workshop we will take a step forward towards such methodologies for computational approaches to the study of music by bringing together two fields with widely divergent methodologies but often shared goals: Music Information Retrieval and Ethnomusicology.

During the workshop we will focus on the process of bringing together research questions from Ethnomusicology and computational methods. We will identify and document challenges, and suggest possible strategies to address these challenges.

We expect the workshop to result in a substantial and significant improvement in both practical and theoretical understanding of how to employ computational methods in research on music. The envisioned outcomes comprise:

- formation of new, genuinely interdisciplinary collaborations;

- increased shared understanding of disciplinary differences;

- initiation of interdisciplinary research proposals;

- establishment of new plans for preservation and accessibility of collections of field recordings;

- critical discussion of limitations of computational methods in studies in the fields of humanities.