part of the MSc in E-learning at the University of Edinburgh

LifeStream Reflections Week 7 – Singers adopt YouTube

This week my lifestream has been centred on further exploring the phenomenom of the virtual choir. I have visited the VC FaceBook group and browsed testimonies of individual participants. One member Songuine sums up what she has gained form being a VC participant:

Through social media, I’ve been able to converse with a music professional who generously allows me access to his knowledge and his friends. I’ve been able to ask for advice and share in online music experiences with others.

From my isolated, lonely place on the planet, I’ve become part of a universal, ongoing musical event. My health might limit my physical journey, but broadband internet has opened the world to me. I’m amazed and blessed to be given this opportunity.

There seems to be a recurring theme of learning through self-reflection or gaining feedback from others. Matt Smith summarises his experience on FaceBook:

So what have I learned from doing this?

1) Seeing a video of myself singing has revealed some interesting traits about the way I sing which I did not realise I had. I am now doing my best to sort this out and improve.

2) Do not procrastinate. It’s not worth it. And next time (hoping that there is a next time) I will give myself enough time to do plenty of recordings so that I can pick the best one.

3) It is wonderfully refreshing to be able to engage and work with someone like Eric. He makes himself so available through the use of technology. I look forward to other artists of his stature following his example.

4) I will always be proud of being part of this project and will take great pleasure in telling people that I was a member of VC 2.0

The real high pint of the week was receiving a comment on last week’s blog post from someone not on this course! It prompted me to think of the VC as an extention of the ‘Choristers and Singers’ community of practice where the adoption of the YouTube commnunity norms of communication had enabled new interactions, relationships and emotional engagment to emerge through individual and group performance.

I have also been pondering the appropriate medium for presenting this small scale ethnography (which probably isn’t an ethnography at all!). A time line seems most appropriate and I finally settled on time toast as it is both easy to author and offers a clean user interface for the viewer. It is a shame that the free version limits the amount of text you can add to an event. I would have loved to have used a time line similar to the one depicting the series of events leading up to the Arab spring – pleasingly whooshy!!

I have finally got mobile uploads to my Flickr account working so have captured a few images of some of the Wesch presentation and a new book that I’m looking forward to exploring.

Here’s my ‘ethnography’ at long last!
I haven’t really been a participant observer here as a VC event is not currently taking place. I really don’t know if I would have enough courage to post my own rendition of one of the Eric Whitacre songs! I did think of making a youtube video of my investiagtion but time ran out so we have a time line instead.

Posted by Geraldine May Jones on November 6th, 2011 at 10:00 pm | Comments & Trackbacks (15)




15 Responses to “LifeStream Reflections Week 7 – Singers adopt YouTube”

  1.   Austin Tate Says:

    Nice area to explore Geraldine… is this the right place to post comments, so I don’t have to register at timetoast – I have quite enough user names and passwords already!

    I did not really know what a virtual choir did, so I watched the Virtual Choir 2.0 “Sleep” YouTube video via your link. It was interesting to see everyone involved and all looking mighty serious. The “ring world” of images and cluster connections for the visuals was very effective.

    The observations about people’s involvement made for interesting reading. I like this sort of “community of interest” which might perhaps a better phrase than “community of practice” which you explored.

  2.   Grace Elliott Says:

    Hi Geraldine,

    When I checked out the Timeline, I wasn’t sure what to make of it especially as I hadn’t heard of the virtual choir before. Then when I watched the YouTube video – well it quite blew me away. Love the whole idea of it, that no matter physicality or locality you can still be a participant. Thought it was great that you received a comment from outside ‘our community’.

  3.   Ania Rolińska Says:

    Just discovered this part of your project – the feedback from the participants and the effect it had on the improvement of individual performances makes me think that it was not only about stroking one’s own ego but they truly felt like part of something bigger (still unsure of the community is the right word). As I said in the other comment, maybe the ‘community’ is still in its formative stages – maybe it needs three performances to take place!

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