Over past editions of the NIME Conference, there has been a growing concern towards diversity and inclusion. It is relevant for an international community whose vast majority of its members are in Europe, the USA, and Canada to seek a richer cultural diversity. To contribute to a decolonial perspective in the inclusion of underrepresented countries and ethnic/racial groups, we discuss Gambiarra and Techno-Vernacular Creativity concepts. We believe these concepts may help structure and stimulate individuals from these underrepresented contexts to perform research in the NIME field.

In this paper, we discuss the importance of replicability in Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) design and the NIME community. Replication enables us to: create new artifacts based on existing ones, experiment DMIs in different contexts and cultures, and validate obtained results from evaluations. We investigate how the papers present artifact documentation and source code by analyzing the NIME proceedings from 2018, 2019, and 2020. We argue that the presence and the quality of documentation are good indicators of replicability and can be beneficial for the NIME community. Finally, we discuss the importance of documentation for replication, propose a call to action towards more replicable projects, and present a practical guide informing future steps toward replicability in the NIME community.

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This paper presents the development process of “TumTá”, a wearable Digital Dance and Music Instrument that triggers sound samples from foot stomps and “Pisada,” a dance-enabled MIDI pedalboard. It was developed between 2012 and 2017 for the use of Helder Vasconcelos, a dancer and musician formed by the traditions of Cavalo Marinho and Maracatu Rural from Pernambuco. The design of this instrument was inspired by traditional instruments like the Zabumba and by the gestural vocabulary from Cavalo Marinho, to make music and dance at the same time. The development process of this instrument is described in the three prototyping phases conducted by three approaches: building blocks, artisanal, and digital fabrication. The process of designing digital technology inspired by Brazilian traditions is analyzed, lessons learned, and future works are presented.

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