Using current theories about the production and reception of culture, as well as symbolic analysis, the CCDMD project Sonic Truths: Music and Knowledge provides students and teachers with the materials that allow them to place musical works in a historical context and to analyze their significance. In addition, students learn to become aware of the practical processes involved in how and what we hear in popular music. They are introduced to the nature of how music influences us as individuals and as a society, as well as the specific ways in which it is understood and "used" in our culture as a lens with which we can view the production and understanding of knowledge.

Although I wasn't thinking of my own pedagogical development when I applied for the grant, the benefits of going through the process of bringing the resources together were considerable. By having to think about which readings best integrated the information needed to meet the objectives of the course, it was necessary to carefully select material which allowed for more interconnections than before. While the original concept for the project saw the information being placed on a temporary storage medium, such as a USB key, to allow the database to evolve, in the end we settled, mainly for administrative and economic reasons, on the DVD as a medium. Although there were elements that didn't get included, the benefits definitely outweighed the disadvantages.

This is the first semester that the DVD is available to students. A beta version was tested in past semesters and it showed that students had easier access to the course readings and that their reflective exercises were better because they could do background and keyword searches which would reinforce what they were learning. Another advantage was that students had the tools to make the end product at the beginning of the term.

Producing Sonic Truths: Music and Knowledge was not easy, and there were a lot of compromises. The musical selections and artist profiles are neither comprehensive nor definitive. For example, the final product has no profile of Crosby Stills and Nash or Leonard Cohen. At the start, the CCDMD was uncertain about getting copyrights, and I had to work with the various publication rights holders directly. As a result all the music copyrights are from Universal Music. The graphics and database look and feel simple because the database was put together using CCDMD's public domain product Performer.

In spite of these compromises, the final product will be useful in any number of contexts including the following:

• As a stand-alone humanities knowledge course, complete with readings, labs, lectures and assignments tailored to the competencies for the Humanities 345-103 course;
• As a resource for teachers seeking access to trends, dates or other information about musical culture that can be added to their teaching and as a research tool to help with lectures.

In addition, I hope to offer web-based support for the DVD where users and discuss, expand and improve the database and deepen our collective understanding of the profound impact popular music has on our contemporary world. Please share your views on this subject with your colleagues by using the Comments feature below.