iSIC;information music

iSIC: Information MusiciSIC is short for information music. It is a unique research project sponsored by CITO and Sheridan Institute of technology which explores the use of musical rules as a way to convey information. iSIC is a monitoring system, sort of a baby sitter for big complex systems. The complex system could be a large network, a server farm or a nuclear facility. iSIC lets operators mind the activities of systems through precisely mapped sounds which play pleasantly in the background. To achieve this the sounds are expressed as a musical paradigm. Most people will think that iSIC sounds like background music however a trained operator will know differently. Someone trained to understand iSIC will be able to get the latest conditions just by paying momentary attention to the “music”. Even if they are not paying attention the operators will be immediately alerted to changes in the system by changes in the music.

As of March 2006 iSIC is being field tested with IT operators responsible for the server systems at Sheridan Institute of Technology. The developers of iSIC are looking for a second test environment to explore the research and commercial potential further. Email us if you are interested.