The Sound/Writing Research Group, or SRG, is a network of scholars and practitioners working with and through sound and composing in the context of rhetoric and writing studies. The SRG organized in 2018 with support from the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, the College of Arts and Letters, and the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology at Michigan State University, with a goal to align with MSU’s mission by developing projects with/in our communities that build infrastructure and transform lives.

Mission

The SRG’s mission is to explore how sound and writing can be used to productively engage social issues and learning in both public and professional spheres, and to create access for people interested in doing the same.

Vision

The SRG takes a creative-critical and scholarly approach to Sound/Writing praxis with/in professional and public networks and communities. Our vision is to work with people in our networks and communities to make, study, and participate in the circulation of stories and information shared through high-quality sound production and by studying composing practices.  In this way, we work to provide access to audio production and to share stories and information about social experiences that are unheard, ignored, or othered, but we also look to study, learn, and share research with others. By engaging our practices critically, we are able to examine and better understand the impact of sound and writing in our day-to-day lives in hopes of bringing awareness to lived experiences that can also motivate social change and improved circumstances for learning. We do this work in participatory ways and focus on establishing ethical collaborative processes as much as finished products.

In addition, the SRG aims to

  • develop excellent undergraduate and graduate co-curricular educational experiences;
  • produce creative-critical scholarship that intentionally asks questions about how/why soundwriting is circulated and for what purposes/for whom; and,
  • support ethical and sustainable practices for soundwriting with/in communities.