Technological changes

Technology is introducing some annoying behaviors in people. How many times do we catch the horrible driver on their phone? I can’t stand when people have headphones on while I’m talking. Group texting is such a pain and becomes annoying quickly. Phone volume issues at every movie and even at other inappropriate times. People need to check their phone alert settings. I really dislike what has happened with individual attention spans of people. The ones using tech will strait up ignore others in the room. “Excuse me, I have to take this call” drives me nuts. Another annoyance is at music concerts when people are using their phones shooting video the entire show. Even worse is the tablet recordings, come on. The journal article YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE, MAN: Live Music, DIY Content and Online Communities by Jessa Lingel and Mor Naaman, investigates video capture at shows. A fairly new phenomenon caused by the accessibility to phones and they are everywhere. 

Highlighted in the article is differences in attitudes, motivations, and practices between mainstream and ‘indie’ concert goers. As I’m sure the jazz scene consumes their music differently than the country music fans. The article is trying to understand the individual who is taking video during the concert and posting it to You Tube. Because in doing this, they are creating a discomfort in having to remove themselves from the experience and manage the video camera. On the flip side, you gain the ability to revisit the experience later and connect with other who were at the show. “In this way, videos from concerts represent a short-term loss (resulting from a detached experience of the show) and long-term gain (in the form of a keepsake of the show).” (Lingel and Naaman 2012) It’s tough because even though the video is most always low quality the snapshot of the night can bring back memories of the show the way a journal or sketch book does. 

The authors were “interested predominantly in rock music; research on other genres of music might reveal additional themes, routines or motivations related to videos and social media.” (Lingel and Naaman 2012) I can attest to the Jamband, Jazz, and Bluegrass communities who have a rich culture in sharing live recordings of concerts with one another. I’ve been to shows where admission gets you a free download of the night’s performance. It’s not uncommon to see entire video crews documenting the show as well. Some music focused communities tape every show and document the bands every move. Technology for better or worse has forever shaped the human experience. I think that any discomfort with the integration of technological trends will slowly be lessened as more people get connected and tuned in to the process. I am always impressed with the experiences that are centered around like mined people and great times. Technology is helping in-rich the longevity and connectivity of communities through live musical experiences on social platforms like You Tube.

Music, space, and technology related.

The Voyager Satellite has a golden record that containes music on it. For anything that should encounter it. Nasa says it has traveled nearly 12 billion miles!

The music contained on the spacecraft is a Bach piece played by Glenn Gould, Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Azerbaijani folk music player Kamil Jalilov, Guan Pinghu, Blind Willie Jonson, Chuck Berry, Kesarbai Kerkaran, and Valya Balkanska.