Put together your ears for Wikipedia’s ‘sound of all human data’

With an increasing number of data being delivered through audio sources like voice assistants, the Wikimedia Basis thought it was time to undertake a so-called “sound brand” for Wikipedia and its different tasks. Consider it as Wikipedia’s equal of the Netflix “ta-dum,” the HBO “aaaaaaah,” or Intel’s iconic five-note chime. After an exhaustive search through “Sound of All Human Data” contest, Wikimedia thinks it discovered an audio clip representing its mission.

The profitable entry was submitted by Thaddeus Osborne, a nuclear engineer and part-time music producer from Virginia, USA. Right here’s how he describes the sound:

“My sound brand welcomes its viewers right into a world of knowledge. The sound of a web page turning shortly turns into a library like a whirlwind of typing, clicking, and paper rustling that guarantees huge shops of knowledge adopted by a pleasant invitation. That is what I understand the Wikimedia motion to be about, the open and inspired sharing of information. Tons and many data.”

Have a hear for your self:

Osborne’s was one in every of 3,235 submissions that got here in from 2,094 individuals throughout 135 international locations final yr. Wikimedia group members helped to whittle these submissions down, and ultimately 10 audio clips have been introduced for a vote.

Though the profitable sound has now been chosen, the audio above isn’t precisely what you’ll hear alongside Wikimedia’s content material sooner or later. For starters, the group says the profitable sound will now must be professionally re-recorded in a studio (Osborne will get a visit to the studio alongside his $2,500 prize cash). It’ll additionally produce totally different variations of the sound to be used in several contexts (like a brief 2-second model for social media posts, for instance, or an extended 60-second composition for occasion movies). 

“Later this yr, we’ll proceed working with voice assistant and expertise companions to undertake the profitable brand to raised establish Wikimedia content material worldwide,” Wikimedia says in a press launch.