RITMO

I find Google’s NotebookLM to be one of the most powerful tools for researchers these days. Its core function is to work with the material you upload. Hence, it differs from ChatGPT and other tools that invent things on their own or search the web. It also has many different types of reports, including audio and video. But how accurate is it? Testing NotebookLM To test NotebookLM on some material I know very well, I decided to provide it with a collection of public data about myself, more specifically, what I have registered in the Norwegian NVA system, which is the database we use in Norway to register all our academic activities. This includes academic publications, public lectures, artistic works, interviews, etc. In my case, that contains around 1000 entries dating back to 2000. ...

Happy new year! As we move into 2026, I am currently undergoing a gradual shift in my academic life. I don’t have any new annual projects planned this year (like 365 Sound Actions or #StillStanding). This year is more about wrapping up old things and moving on with exciting new projects. I am more or less done with writing Still Standing, which summarizes 15 years of micromotion research. My AMBIENT project is also about to end, with sveral of my doctoral and postdoctoral fellows wrapping up their projects in the coming months. The plan is to write a book based on AMBIENT, too, summarizing my interest in indoor environments. However, book writing takes time, so it will probably take a few years before I have completed that project. ...

As part of developing the MishMash website, can RSS feeds be used to link information from various university web pages? Here is a blog post summarising some of what I have learned about this “classic” web standard. The basics RSS (Really Simple Syndication) has been a cornerstone of web content distribution for over two decades. It was developed by Netscape in the late 1990s as a solution to content discovery problems and evolved through several versions (0.90, 0.91, 0.92, and 2.0) before reaching widespread adoption. ...

This semester, I have written a book with AI. I should emphasize the with in the previous sentence, because this has been an experience of co-creation between various large language models (LLMs) and me. This post details my approach to co-writing Sensing Sound and Music and reflects on the process. The need for a book The reason for my AI-based writing experiment was the need for a textbook for the course MUS2640 – Sensing Sound and Music at the University of Oslo. This is an introductory course for the bachelor’s students in our musicology program who want to major in music psychology and/or music technology. These are two distinct directions that are usually taught separately. However, at UiO, we have a strong tradition of combining psychological and technological perspectives on and with music (in the fourMs Lab and at RITMO), so I have argued that we need a foundation course showing the connections between the two disciplines. ...

Many students conflate research design, protocol, and methods. This post aims to clarify these foundational concepts. Research Design A research design is the overarching blueprint for a scientific study. It outlines how you will collect, measure, and analyze data to answer your research question. Common designs include: Experimental Designs: Researchers manipulate variables to observe effects. For example, randomly assigning participants to listen to different genres of music and measuring their mood or cognitive performance. ...

Back in 2022, I sat down with my good colleague, Cagri Erdem, to explore two commercially available new interfaces for musical expression: the Seaboard Grand and the ContinuuMini. I have written about my experiences with both of these devices in my book, Sound Actions: Conceptualizing Musical Instruments. In short, they are both super exciting to play with, particularly because unlike many other electronic instruments, they allow for continuous control of pitch and timbre. This is what Cagri and I wanted to explore in a duo setting. ...

I have previously written about the MishMash name. Some have also asked about the story behind the MishMash “emblem”: The MishMash Bubble Diagram It was created by designers from Appex based on a rough sketch I had made for presentations held before we wrote the application: This was again inspired by a figure I have used in several previous lectures on musical AI: However, for the final application document, we wanted something more professional-looking, so I reached out to the design company that had created the RITMO emblem. ...

Several people have asked about the story behind our name, MishMash. Some also wonder whether it is an acronym for something. It is not; we are thinking about it as a descriptive part of our full centre name: “MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity”. I can reveal that the name has been heavily discussed in our consortium from the beginning of our application process. If I recall correctly, it first appeared during a conversation with my colleague Ragnhild Brøvig in late April last year. We had to submit a sketch of our application ideas to the Faculty of Humanities and had to come up with a title. Our thoughts were scattered, and we still did not have a clear idea of how to structure things; it all felt like a “mishmash”. We kept it as a working title and even included it in the sketch we submitted to the Research Council of Norway in June last year. ...

Yesterday, I received a brief phone call from the Research Council of Norway, where I was asked to come to UiO’s University Library today. The very pleasant message was that our bid for a Norwegian AI centre had been selected by the committee: MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity will be a reality! Today’s press release was a high-profile event with both the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, and Minister of Research and Higher Education, Sigrun Aasland, present. ...

At RITMO retreats we often use case studies to discuss relevant topics. I have blogged about some of these before: the Coauthorship Case and Confession Case. This semester’s retreat focused on project development and management. I developed a new case study that was successfully used for group work and plenary discussion. A challenging project Consider the following scenario: Professor Penelope has received external funding to start a new interdisciplinary research project. Three recruits have been employed and will begin on 1 September: ...