Abstract
In this paper we explore the hypothesis that aesthetic forms of expression - such as music, painting, video - can be used for direct information delivery. In contrast to text or verbal narrative techniques, which require a conscious act of transcoding, these aesthetic forms stimulate a more direct, emothional response. If shown viable, such a hypothesis could open new channels for the delivery of various types of information, providing us with a background information channel in situations of information overload, leaving our foreground concentrated on the more thought-demanding tasks.

To develop a system based on the notion of using aesthetic forms of expression for direct information delivery, we need to develop its core elements. In this paper we define a core element called "emon", a small discrete unit of aesthetic expression, which generates an expected emotional response affecting human behavior. The study is currently restricted to the domain of music, with candidate emons being 1-15 seconds long loops of audio that are currently assumed to be the only audio source perceived by the user. The emons are characterized as units of an independently describable value, without the necessity of connection / abstraction to / from other pattern units - i.e. if a specific emon is played we will be able to relate to its qualities without accessing our knowledge about other emons. In the first half of this paper we discuss the guidelines for emons' creation, describe the categorizations process, and report the results of emons' testing performed by a group of fourteen users.

Proceedings, CSNLP-8 Workshop, Dublin City University, Dublin. August 1999.
http://mf.media.mit.edu/pubs/conference/AestheticInformation.pdf