Just received an e-mail from Michael Bull in which he announced his new book to which I was looking forward: Sound Moves. I met Michael at the Transmediale two years ago and then did this podcast interview about his research. One of his conclusions at the time: while a lot of contemporary theory focuses on the rise of postmodern, fragmented identities, his research on the level of the street shows that most people do not think of themselves in that way. On the contrary, they use mobile technologies as the iPod to center themselves and to appropriate the often chaotic and fragmented experience of the city.

This is what the blurb of the book promises potential readers:

This book, in using the example of the Apple iPod, investigates the way in which we use sound to construct key areas of our daily lives. The author argues that the Apple iPod acts as an urban Sherpa for many of its users and in doing so joins the mobile army of technologies that many of us habitually use to accompany our daily lives. Through our use of such mobile and largely sound based devices, the book demonstrates how and why the spaces of the city are being transformed right in front of our ears.