Listen to Wikipedia

Listen to Wikipedia is a multimedia visualizer developed by Mahmoud Hashemi and Stephen LaPorte which translates recent Wikipedia edits into a display of visuals and sounds. The open source software application creates a real-time statistical graphic with sound from contributions to Wikipedia from around the world. To accomplish this, L2W uses the graphics library D3.js.^[1]

Listen to Wikipedia

Developer(s)	Stephen LaPorte, Mahmoud Hashemi
Repository	listen.hatnote.com
Written in	JavaScript and HTML
License	3-clause BSD license
Website	Official website

The project won Silver in the Interactive Visualization category of the Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards in 2013.^[2] The concept of Listen to Wikipedia is based on BitListen, originally known as Listen to Bitcoin, by Maximillian Laumaister.^[3][4]

Presentation

Listen to Wikipedia exhibited at the University of Virginia

Audio

Each edit produces a note in the pentatonic scale.^[5] The bell-like sounds of a celesta correspond to edits with a net addition of content to Wikipedia, and the strums of a clavichord correspond to net subtractions of content. The pitch is inversely proportional to the size of the edit (lower pitched notes are produced by larger edits).^[6] Newly registered Wikipedia users are welcomed by a string chord.^[7][4]

Visuals

Each edit creates a circle of one of three colors: white for registered users, green for unregistered users, and violet for Wikipedia bots. The size of a circle is proportional to the magnitude of change executed by the edit; larger circles are produced by larger edits.^[4] The name of the article edited is displayed in the center of the circle. Clicking on the text opens a Wikipedia page in a new tab in the user's browser, showing the revision. A blue bar at the top of the screen will appear whenever a new Wikipedia user is registered, listing their username. At the bottom left corner, there is a bar showing the number of edits per minute.